Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, or pirate fishing, is a widespread international crime which drains our oceans of fish and damages marine protected areas around the world. It causes poverty and hunger in coastal African countries, where local fishermen are losing out to huge foreign trawlers illegally stripping their waters. Incredibly, there is ample evidence that in parts of Asia illegal fishing is sometimes powered by forced labor (a form of slavery).

At this summer’s Our Ocean Conference, the White House announced a Presidential Task Force on pirate fishing and seafood fraud (the practice of mislabeling seafood to hide its real origins or species in order to sell it at a higher price). Recently, the Task Force came out with a host of good recommendations, but seafood importers who handle the illegal product and some fishing groups are pushing back.  And this fall, Congress ignored bipartisan legislation that was ready to go to the floor.

We need to send the Task Force and Congress a clear message that enough is enough.

If you want to ensure that you are buying only legal seafood and at the same time helping support US fishermen, please sign our petition supporting an end to pirate fishing.