December 12, 2014 — Americans eat more seafood than just about anyone else. Most of it is imported from abroad. And a lot of it — perhaps 25 percent of wild-caught seafood imports, according to fisheries experts — is illegally caught.
The White House is now drafting recommendations on what to do about that. Fisheries experts say they hope the administration will devote more resources to fight seafood piracy.
This isn't just about fraudulent fish — say, a plate of tilefish advertised as pricy red snapper at a restaurant. It's about boats that secretly fish in protected areas, where fish populations have been dangerously depleted. Or boats that exceed their own government's allowable catch.
"Illegal fishing has been identified as the single greatest threat to sustainable fisheries in the world today," says Michele Kuruc, head of marine policy at the World Wildlife Fund.
"Eighty-five percent of the fisheries around the world that are fished commercially are at their absolute maximum, or are already overfished," Kuruc says, quoting figures from the Food and Agricultural Organization at the United Nations.
Read the full story and listen to the audio at WMHT