II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 283
To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology
and the Administrator of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion to develop a standard methodology for identifying the country of
origin of seafood to support enforcement against illegal, unreported,
and unregulated fishing, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. C
RUZ(for himself, Mr. SCHATZ, Mrs. BRITT, and Mr. TUBERVILLE) in-
troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards
and Technology and the Administrator of National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a stand-
ard methodology for identifying the country of origin
of seafood to support enforcement against illegal, unre-
ported, and unregulated fishing, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Illegal Red Snapper 4
and Tuna Enforcement Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. METHODOLOGY FOR IDENTIFYING THE COUNTRY 1
OF ORIGIN OF SEAFOOD. 2
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-4
trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 5
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 6
(2) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -7
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-8
gress’’ means— 9
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 10
and Transportation of the Senate; and 11
(B) the Committee on Transportation and 12
Infrastructure and the Committee on Natural 13
Resources of the House of Representatives. 14
(3) K
EY AGENCY LEADERSHIP .—The term ‘‘key 15
agency leadership’’ means the Administrator and the 16
Under Secretary in consultation with the Commis-17
sioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and 18
the Commandant of the Coast Guard. 19
(4) R
ED SNAPPER.—The term ‘‘red snapper’’ 20
means the species Lutjanus campechanus. 21
(5) T
UNA.—The term ‘‘tuna’’ means the fol-22
lowing species of tuna: 23
(A) Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus). 24
(B) Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares). 25
(C) Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). 26
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(6) UNDER SECRETARY .—The term ‘‘Under 1
Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 2
for Standards and Technology and the Director of 3
the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 4
(b) S
TANDARDMETHODOLOGY FOR IDENTIFICA-5
TION.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Key agency leadership shall, 7
in accordance with this section, jointly develop a 8
standard methodology, based on chemical analysis, 9
for identifying the country of origin of seafood to 10
support enforcement against illegal, unreported, and 11
unregulated fishing. 12
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—Key agency leadership 13
shall ensure that the methodology developed under 14
this subsection— 15
(A) is consistent with the needs of Federal 16
and State law enforcement agencies in com-17
bating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fish-18
ing; 19
(B) minimizes processing time; 20
(C) involves the use of a field kit that can 21
be easily carried by one individual; and 22
(D) to the extent practicable, can be used 23
to test prepared food, including raw prepara-24
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tions of seafood such as ceviche, sashimi, sushi, 1
and poke. 2
(3) I
NITIAL SPECIES FOR IDENTIFICATION .—In 3
developing the methodology under this subsection, 4
key agency leadership shall conduct pilot studies on 5
red snapper, as an example of a stationary stock, 6
and tuna, as an example of a highly migratory stock. 7
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 8
of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall 9
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 10
that includes the following: 11
(1) A summary of the methodology developed 12
under subsection (b). 13
(2) A plan for operationalizing the methodology 14
developed under subsection (b). 15
(3) In the event that any aspect of the method-16
ology developed under subsection (b) is impracti-17
cable, an explanation of why, whether additional re-18
search would make developing such a methodology 19
practicable, and whether a different approach other 20
than chemical analysis might be practicable. 21
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR IUU FISHING EN-22
FORCEMENT. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense is au-24
thorized to, in coordination with the United States Coast 25
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Guard, expend funds appropriated for the Department of 1
Defense for operation and maintenance to provide mari-2
time technical assistance to maritime forces from other 3
nations in efforts to combat illegal, unreported, or unregu-4
lated fishing (commonly known as ‘‘IUU fishing’’) and 5
other transnational organized crime. Such technical assist-6
ance may include providing observers, shipriders, and spe-7
cialized personnel to deploy with such maritime forces, in 8
addition to remote sensing, analysis of data, and oper-9
ational intelligence, as appropriate and consistent with 10
United States law and policy. 11
(b) A
PPLICATION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority 12
provided under subsection (a) shall apply to the use of 13
the United States Coast Guard members deployed to and 14
operating aboard Department of Defense, partner nation, 15
or international partner platforms, as well as partner na-16
tion personnel operating aboard United States military 17
and Coast Guard assets or international partner vessels, 18
as appropriate. 19
Æ
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