Bipartisan Letter Asks for Details on Forced Labor Enforcement in Seafood
The top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, joined by a Republican and two other Democrats, is asking CBP to provide decision memoranda, emails, situation summaries, discussion and evaluation documents and briefing documents on how the agency is identifying seafood imports that were harvested by illegal fishing or processed with forced labor, including how ACE is collecting data.
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Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., led the letter, which said the International Trade Commission estimated more than 10% of all seafood imports were taken by illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing.
They asked: "What is the frequency of inspections of incoming seafood shipments, including shipments marked as a higher risk for non-compliance for IUU fishing and forced labor?" They also asked: "Has CBP considered issuing new Withhold Release Orders to the vessels and processing facilities implicated by the Outlaw Ocean reporting?"
They thanked the administration for adding seafood as a high-priority sector under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and asked how CBP will keep Uyghur-forced-labor tainted seafood out of the country.