Tag Archives: Presidential Task Force

Federal officials plan to track every fish and crustacean shipped to U.S. ports

No FishingBefore any seafood enters the U.S. market, officials said, it must contain information that federal, state and local officials currently do not ask for: its origin, who caught it, when and with what. That data can be taken by any federal, state and local authority at a port and submitted to a central database for tracking. Conservationist groups that pushed the administration to better protect global fishing stocks for years cheered the report. Michele Kuruc, vice president of ocean policy for the , called it historic. Read the rest here 12:37

JUST IN: Presidential Task Force on IUU Fishing & Seafood Fraud releases action plan

baby fishermanToday, March 15th, the Presidential Task Force on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud, co-chaired by the Departments of Commerce and State, released its action plan. This plan articulates the aggressive steps that federal agencies will take both domestically and internationally to implement the recommendations the Task Force made in December 2014. Read the release here 11:14

Sea hunt: Officials plan to track seafood ‘bait to plate’ to end fraud

For crimes committed on the high seas, Arnold Bengisclip_image002_001 is going to pay. He’s already served a five-year federal prison sentence for stealing massive amounts of rock lobster from South African waters and importing it to the United States. Now a federal judge wants the former Long Island resident and two co-conspirators to fork over another $20 million in restitution to the South Africans. Described as a modern-day pirate, Bengis is the face of fishery crime. Read the rest here 09:31

Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud

The “recommendations for the implementation of a comprehensive framework of integrated programs to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud that emphasizes areas of greatest need” have now been provided to the President through the National Ocean Council. The Task Force is requesting comments from key stakeholders and interest groups to advise on how to implement these recommendations. Read the rest here  15:21