Timely access to pertinent data and an information-sharing process deemed less-than-efficient could be improved to strengthen U.S. agencies’ battle against illegal fishing, the Government Accountability Office said.
One in every five fish caught around the globe is believed to be the product of illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing — a number hard to nail down. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2021 Report to Congress on Improving International Fisheries Management said that 31 nations and entities were identified as having vessels engaged in IUU fishing or bycatch of protected species on the high seas.
“IUU fishing has replaced piracy as the leading maritime threat to the rules-based order,” Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan said at this year’s State of the Coast Guard address. “The U.S. Coast Guard is a global leader in IUU fisheries enforcement.”
The U.S. Coast Guard is tasked with ensuring illegal foreign fishing vessels don’t encroach on the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), as well as enforcing international agreements against IUU fishing.
Lanchas spotted by the Coast Guard near the U.S.-Mexico border in the Gulf of Mexico are sometimes not just hauling illegal fish but also narcotics. IUU fishing also ties into CBP’s mission not only in terms of trade enforcement but because of illegal fishing’s convergence with forced labor, drug trafficking, money laundering, and wildlife trafficking.
The National Marine Fisheries Service works in conjunction with CBP to target imports of illegally caught seafood, which can support and broaden investigations into facilitators of IUU fishing such as importers with a patten of trade violations. NMFS and CBP jointly conduct physical inspections of some seafood imports upon arrival at U.S. ports.
Through reviews of reports and interagency agreements as well as interviews conducted in the course of their audit from January 2022 to May 2023, GAO said that “NMFS officials cited difficulties in efficiently obtaining information from CBP to help combat imports of seafood caught through IUU fishing.”
NMFS officials told GAO that a CBP data system called the Government Client Manifest Capability, a tool created in 2019, “has not provided users with the necessary search capabilities to effectively target imports of seafood potentially caught through IUU fishing.”
“Instead, the officials told us that they have had to use less efficient alternative methods that they have developed to retrieve data they need using this tool,” GAO said in its report. “NMFS officials told us that these alternative methods are cumbersome and time consuming and do not always work because of system limitations.”
NMFS previously had the search capabilities they needed through CBP’s Automated Targeting System-Import Cargo tool, but CBP officials told GAO that after a system update the agency determined it needed “to provide stronger controls around these agencies’ access to sensitive information” — hence, the controlled-data-access Government Client Manifest Capability.
CBP acknowledged a technical limitation on agencies’ search capabilities, something recently remedied and tested by one partner agency. “These officials told us that they notified NMFS and other agencies of the remedy at an interagency meeting in late March 2023,” GAO said.
NMFS officials at the headquarters and port levels also expressed concern about the length of time it takes to obtain information through CBP’s interagency Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center. “CBP directs partner agencies to request desired information through CTAC, rather than directly from CBP officials in ports, if CTAC has initiated enforcement efforts, is already generating related intelligence, or is investigating or targeting the shipment of interest,” the report states. “Specifically, these officials told us that in these situations, if NMFS officials in a port need information on a specific shipment, have questions about intelligence, or want to place a hold on a shipment to inspect it, they should reach out to NMFS headquarters, which will reach out to CBP at CTAC to obtain this information. CTAC will provide the information to CBP’s Office of Field Operations, which will provide it to NMFS headquarters to share with NMFS port-level officials. Further, CBP officials noted that, in these situations, it is critical for NMFS to also communicate the results of any of its examinations or follow-up activities back to CTAC to ensure targeting data is continually refined.”
NMFS port officials told GAP that “going through CTAC for information was sometimes inefficient and that requesting information through CTAC could take as long as a week.” Officials said that direct consultations with their CBP counterparts at ports was more efficient and allowed them the opportunity “to benefit from expertise that CBP personnel may have regarding aspects of the import process or conditions at a particular port.”
CBP told GAO that going through CTAC is important to ensure that officials in CBP headquarters are aware of actions “such as requesting information or holds on shipments and how such requests may affect ongoing CBP operations, such as jeopardizing or duplicating them.”
“Additionally, these officials told us that requiring partner agencies to make requests through CTAC can prevent duplication of effort between ports or conflicts among other CBP offices,” the report continued.
GAO acknowledged the importance of CTAC as well as the need “for CBP to balance its need for awareness of information requests with providing timely information to NMFS, as one of its partner agencies.”
“Unless CTAC officials work with NMFS to ensure that it has timely access to information through CTAC on seafood imports that may have been caught with IUU fishing, both NMFS and CBP may be missing opportunities to combat such fishing and associated import violations,” GAO added.
GAO recommended that the CBP commissioner “direct relevant officials to work with NMFS to ensure that NMFS has timely access to information it needs to combat imports of seafood caught through IUU fishing.”
DHS concurred with the recommendation and said the department will take such action.
