Source: United States Senator for Alaska Dan Sullivan

06.12.25

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries, today chaired a hearing on the threat of foreign illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing to Alaska’s fishermen and coastal communities. The hearing focused on strategies to combat foreign IUU fishing, many of which are found in Sen. Sullivan’s Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act. These strategies include blacklisting offending vessels from U.S. ports and waters, bolstering the U.S. Coast Guard’s enforcement capabilities and partnerships, and advancing international and bilateral negotiations to achieve enforceable agreements and treaties. On April 30, 2025, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously passed Sen. Sullivan’s FISH Act, co-led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I).

The hearing featured testimony from a panel of expert witnesses, including Gabriel Prout, president of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

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“There was a senior Russian official who publicly declared, ‘We know we’re at war with American fishermen.’…What more should we be doing with regard to the unfair competition with Chinese and Russian fleets?” Sen. Sullivan asked. “We’ve talked about their IUU practices, their slave labor practices. Another thing that happens is their governments heavily subsidize their fleet…What are the other things we can be doing and how has the ban on Russian seafood into the U.S. market, including the Chinese communist loophole that we also shut down, helped your industry and other fishermen throughout the country?”

“The effect of IUU and the importation of it into our markets has been nothing short of devastating,” said Mr. Prout. “When Russia floods the market with illegal, under-priced crab, or any other seafood commodity for that matter, it puts downward pressure on our prices and destabilizes the processors. Processors within Alaska especially rely on numerous revenue sources of different seafood commodities…They use that method to stay afloat, diversifying their portfolio a little bit. If they take a major loss on crab or salmon, it really destabilizes their efforts and it threatens their whole operation. Additionally, fishermen then are potentially looking at a loss of a place to deliver, because the processors are unable to compete with the importation of IUU products, just because of the price difference that is associated with it.

“As far as the impact of your efforts, it’s had a tremendous impact—banning the importation of Russian crab. One of the most notable products in Alaska, of course, is the Alaskan red king crab. This past season, myself and my family, and all the rest of the fishermen who participated in that, experienced record prices at the dock for their catch. I can confidently say that I believe that wouldn’t have taken effect had there still been a large importation of Russian product coming into the domestic market. So your efforts to stem the flow of that IUU [seafood] have been very obvious to my family and many of the fishermen within Alaska.”

Other hearing witnesses included Gregory Poling, director and senior fellow of the Southeast Asia Program and the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS); Nathan Rickard, partner at Picard Kentz & Rowe; and Whitley Saumweber, director of the Stephenson Ocean Security Project at CSIS.

Below is a full transcript of Senator Sullivan’s opening statement at the hearing.

Today’s hearing will focus on international conflict, criminal activity, and, yes, even slave labor associated with the ocean. We’re particularly focused on the fight for fisheries resources, geopolitical flashpoints where conflict is likely to arise, and the role of both state and non-state actors involved in conflict with criminal activity in the fishing sector. And, of course, we want sustainable, lasting fisheries.

Additionally, we’ll discuss measures being taken to address the growing challenges and criminal activity surrounding these resources and conflicts, and what more can be done. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, also known as IUU fishing, poses a significant threat to global marine ecosystems, economies, sustainable fisheries, and food security.

It is estimated that IUU fishing accounts for up to 20 percent of the global catch, which translates to global losses between $10 billion and $50 billion annually for fishing fleets that actually fish legally, like ours in America. The scale of IUU fishing varies by region, with some areas experiencing more severe impacts due to lax enforcement, corruption, and high demand for seafood. Of course, the Chinese Communist Party in China plays a significant role in this problem in the global fishing industry, and is the worst offender of IUU fishing, by far. No surprise.

The Chinese government has provided billions of dollars in subsidies to its distant water fishing fleets, “gray fleets,” as we sometimes call them, enabling their fishing sector to grow exponentially. According to Global Fishing Watch, China operates approximately 57,000 fishing vessels—57,000—which accounts for 44 percent of the world’s total fishing activity.

Operating in tandem with the Chinese military to protect its fishing fleet, the Chinese fishing boats benefit from the protection of the Chinese Coast Guard and Navy, ensuring their ability to pilfer resources around the globe. If you care about the environment and healthy ecosystems, this should be a top concern of yours. China is ravaging our oceans.

The scale of China’s fishing activities raises concerns about the sustainability of global fish stocks around the world, and the geopolitical tensions that can arise from maritime disputes.

China is a concern, but Russia is as well. Close to Alaska, Russian and other vessels conduct IUU fishing near our exclusive economic zone, our EEZ. Although Russia banned imports of U.S. seafood into Russia over ten years ago, Russia has been able to bring their seafood into the U.S., sometimes using loopholes through China as recently as late 2023.

IUU fishing is not an issue just for the United States. U.S. fisheries are the most sustainable fisheries in the world, but sustainably sourced, legally caught, high quality seafood can’t compete with illegally sourced seafood that is being plundered from our oceans.

I might add, due to some great reporting—and I’m going to reference it here in this hearing—from Politico magazine, [and] the New Yorker, China also uses slave labor on many of its fishing vessels. Pretty hard to compete against slave labor if you’re an American fisherman. IUU fishing not only distorts the true cost of seafood sold in markets, but it is often linked overseas with transnational crime, forced and slave labor, and even human and drug trafficking.

The key to preventing IUU fishing is to lead international efforts to address the issue at its sources globally. Through the years, Congress and the executive branch, Democrats and Republicans, have worked together with global partners and have focused on IUU fishing. I’m proud to see my colleague and friend, Senator Whitehouse, here. He and I recently introduced our Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest, also known as the FISH Act, a bipartisan bill that just recently in this committee passed unanimously. It puts IUU fishing vessels on a blacklist, raises costs for IUU vessel owners and importers, and supports increased Coast Guard enforcement and work with our partners. It builds on previous bipartisan legislation that this committee has championed, particularly Senator Wicker’s Maritime Safe Act.

In April, President Trump signed an executive order entitled, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.” My office, my team and I were proud to work closely with the Trump administration on this important executive order. This order aims at strengthening measures to combat IUU fishing, including preventing IUU seafood from entering the U.S. market, and supporting international efforts to address the issue at its source. We look forward to working with the administration on these efforts.

But it’s not all bad news. This is, after all, the subcommittee in charge of the Coast Guard. I believe we are going to be embarking on a golden age for our Coast Guard. In the budget reconciliation bill right now, there is $24.6 billion focused on the Coast Guard of the United States. That will likely be the biggest investment in the Coast Guard in the history of the United States of America. There are a lot of good things happening with regard to our Coast Guard.

The U.S. has a vital role to play, a leading role to play, in combating IUU fishing through regulatory measures, international cooperation, consumer awareness, and passing the FISH Act. By preventing IUU seafood from entering our market, the U.S. can help protect legitimate fishermen, some of whom we’ll hear from today, and promote sustainable fishing practices worldwide.

Below is a full transcript of Mr. Prout’s opening statement at the hearing.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the devastating impact of IUU—illegal, unreported and unregulated—crab fishing, and unfair Russian and Chinese trade practices on American crab fishermen and coastal communities. I’d like to first start by acknowledging and thanking Senator Sullivan, as well as Senator Cantwell, for their long-standing support of independent crab harvesters like myself. Thank you. My name is Gabriel Prout and I am the President of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. I represent the majority of quota and vessel owners harvesting king, snow, and bairdi crab in the Bering Sea. I’m also a third-generation commercial fisherman and a vessel owner from Kodiak, Alaska, a seafood powerhouse where hundreds of millions of pounds of product cross the docks each year.

For nearly 20 years, I’ve worked in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska with two of my brothers, continuing a livelihood passed down from our father and grandfather. In recent years, the collapse of snow crab and red king crab stocks hit us hard. Boats sat tied up, crews were out of work, and families like mine faced deep uncertainty. This fishery isn’t just our livelihood, it is our identity. Crab stocks now appear to be rebounding, but we still need action to protect small fishing families, like mine, especially from the harms of IUU fishing.

For over 20 years, Russian IUU crab has undercut the economic foundation of our industry. A 2021 U.S. International Trade Commission report found that, in 2019, over 20 percent of U.S. imports of snow and king crab from the Russian far east came from IUU sources. Fortunately, U.S. imports of Russian crab have largely ceased thanks to the embargo that began under President Biden, continued under President Trump, and was strengthened by Senator Sullivan’s work to close the China trans-shipment loophole.

Still, Russia’s IUU crab continues entering global markets through other channels, suppressing prices and creating unfair competition for U.S. harvesters who follow the law. Russia’s actions extend far beyond IUU. The following are just a few key points.

It has heavily subsidized its seafood industry to deliberately undercut U.S. competitors; flooded international markets with underpriced seafood following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine to help fund its war; and contributed to an estimated $1.8 billion in losses for the Alaska seafood industry during 2022 and 2023.

There are also national security concerns. Russian crab is being funneled into the global market through North Korean smuggling networks, where it’s reprocessed and relabeled in China. This collaboration between two sanctioned regimes undermines trade restrictions and raises serious concerns about enforcement and global seafood supply chain integrity.

Based on years of experience witnessing the impact of Russian IUU on Alaskan crabbers, I respectfully urge the following actions.

One, expand the seafood import monitoring program and ensure it focuses on species at highest risk for IUU fishing; [and] mandate country-of-origin labeling, also known as “cool labeling” that also applies to cooked crab products.

Two, expand economic sanctions and trade restrictions, which would extend and strengthen sanctions on Russian-origin seafood and ensure enforcement on the ban of Russian seafood entering through third countries, especially China.

Expand intelligence sharing agreements with allies. This is under point three. Increase international cooperation and enforcement, increase support for international bodies working to combat IUU fishing, and push for stronger enforcement of port state measure agreements, especially with countries still importing Russian crab around the world.

Four, provide economic relief to affected communities, establish emergency relief similar to the Seafood Trade Relief Program, and create low-interest loans to help crabbers and fishing fleets modernize gear and remain competitive throughout the world; prioritize support for small, independent, family-owned fishing operations like those that I represent.

And five, strengthen U.S. enforcement against IUU fishing. Congress should pass Senate Bill 688, the FISH Act, and provide full funding and direction for the U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA to expand patrols, inspections, and enforcements targeting IUU threats.

For over two decades, Russian IUU crab has undermined American fishermen who follow the rules, invest in sustainability, and support our coastal communities. This isn’t just about statistics. It’s about lost livelihoods, struggling towns and an industry fighting for survival.

Congress has the opportunity to protect American harvesters and ensure global seafood is harvested legally and sustainably. Thank you for your attention to this critical issue affecting thousands of American fishing families. I look forward to your questions and working with the Committee on effective solutions.