Fishing or Processing That Uses Forced or Child Labor Is Target of Bipartisan Bill
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., are co-sponsoring the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would require importers to provide more information on imported fish and shellfish at least 72 hours before entry, and require that all importers have an International Trade Fisheries Permit. It would expand the reach of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which currently only covers 13 species particularly vulnerable to overfishing or fraud, to include all species within two years. If a SIMP audit found wrongdoing, the permit would be pulled.
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“Illegal fishing operations damage ocean ecosystems and healthy fisheries, and are often the same ones that rely on atrocious, illegal practices like human trafficking and forced labor," Huffman said in a May 11 press release announcing the bill's introduction.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance applauded the bill, saying that adding data on labor conditions in harvesting and processing would be "a massive improvement over current law and would permit purchasers of imported shrimp, for example, to determine whether the shrimp they are sourcing had been produced through the use of unregulated contract peeling houses. In result, purchasers of imported shrimp would be able to ensure that their shrimp supply chain was uncontaminated by forced and child labor practices."