Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming House passage by voice vote of the Senate companion to a bill she cosponsored in the House for better science-based U.S. fishing safeguards. This amended bill includes much of the original House bill, and it has been returned to the Senate for one final vote to become law.

Both the final bill, and its companion effort, are bipartisan and work to secure American seafood using the same method against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, which unfairly costs and competes with the American tuna industry, along with other seafood.

The bill requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a standard methodology for identifying the country of origin of seafood to support enforcement against IUU fishing to stop seafood fraud and the problem of U.S. imports of competing IUU product.

“This is a good bipartisan effort to safeguard U.S. tuna, and protect American Samoa’s share of the market, by better identifying IUU produced tuna and preventing American imports of illegal competition that undercut our fishing,” said Congresswoman Amata. “As part of our national food security, we need a dependable U.S. fishing supply that’s not forced to compete against fraudulent IUU bad actors. I appreciate key leaders on both sides of the aisle recognizing the need for this initiative to help keep our fishing competitive. We’re at the finish line for this bill, and I expect final passage of this priority.”