S.Amdt. 6128

The amendment is known as the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests Act of 2025 (or the FISH Act of 2025). It is intended to be added to bill S. 4784.

The purpose of this amendment is to create a comprehensive effort to combat IUU fishing (illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing) and its connections to forced labor and human trafficking.

Key Changes and Additions

• IUU Vessel List: It requires the Secretary of Commerce to create and maintain a public list of foreign vessels, fleets, and beneficial owners engaged in IUU fishing. This includes providing specific identifying information and a process for adding or removing entities from the list.

• Visa Sanctions: Foreign persons who own or are beneficial owners of vessels on the IUU vessel list will be ineligible for visas, inadmissible to the United States, and will have current visas revoked.

• Enforcement and Monitoring:

  • The Coast Guard is encouraged to increase the boarding of suspected IUU vessels on the high seas.
  • The Secretary of State must identify regional fisheries management organizations that lack high seas boarding and inspection programs.

• Data and Strategy:

  • It mandates the development of strategies to optimize data collection and sharing to prevent forced-labor seafood from affecting U.S. commerce.
  • It requires studies on the impact of new technology on IUU fishing and the influence of Russian and Chinese fishing industries.

• Funding and Support:

  • It authorizes $10,000,000 annually from 2025 through 2030 for the Department of Commerce to carry out the vessel list section.
  • It authorizes $2,000,000 for a multifaceted study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
  • It updates appropriation years for the National Sea Grant College Program through 2031.

• Limitations: The amendment explicitly states it does not provide authority to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.