Senate Unanimously Passes Whitehouse-Sullivan FISH Act to Combat Illegal Foreign Seafood Harvest

Bipartisan legislation will protect Rhode Island's fishing industry by quashing unfair competition from illegal pirate fishing

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Dan Sullivan (R-AK), today cheered the Senate's unanimous passage of their Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act. The FISH Act would combat foreign illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by 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.

"I was glad to work with Senator Sullivan, my longtime partner on oceans issues, to pass our bipartisan FISH Act through the Senate. By cracking down on illegal pirate fishing, we are leveling the playing field for hardworking Rhode Island fishermen who play by the rules," said Whitehouse.

"The geopolitics of the North Pacific and the Arctic are changing dramatically, with Russia and China increasing their aggression and ruinous activities near Alaska's waters," said Sullivan. "One particularly insidious threat is Chinese and Russian trawl fleets that ignore basic seafood harvest rules and best practices, and ravage fish stocks without regard for any other users or future generations. These fleets, which literally utilize slave labor in many cases, are a cancer on fisheries throughout the world and in Alaska and undercut our fishermen, who fish sustainably. I want to thank my Senate colleagues for advancing our FISH Act and helping us fight back against IUU fishing on behalf of our fishermen and coastal communities."

The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Chris Coons (D-DE), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS). House companion legislation has been introduced by Representatives Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Nick Begich (R-AK), and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX).

The FISH Act would:

• Direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a blacklist of foreign vessels and owners that have engaged in IUU fishing.
• Direct the administration to address IUU fishing in any relevant international agreement.
• Direct the U.S. Coast Guard to increase its work with partner countries and increase at-sea inspection of foreign vessels suspected of IUU fishing.
• Direct the administration to report to Congress on how new technologies can aid in the fight against IUU fishing, the complexities of the seafood trade relationship between Russia and China, and the economic costs of IUU fishing to the U.S.

The Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee unanimously passed the FISH Act from committee in April 2025. The FISH Act passed the Senate in October 2025 as part of the Senate version of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act but was not part of the final bill that was signed into law.

As a co-founder of the Senate Oceans Caucus, Whitehouse plays a key role in crafting bipartisan policies to confront the major challenges of ocean pollution. Whitehouse and Sullivan's Save Our Seas 2.0 Act was signed into law in 2020, becoming the most comprehensive legislation ever to address the global marine debris crisis. The bipartisan legislation built on the success of the Senators' original Save Our Seas Act, which became law in 2018. Whitehouse has previously partnered with Senator Sullivan to strengthen maritime security and law enforcement provisions to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated pirate fishing.