{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-leads-bipartisan-letter-urging-sanctions-on-chinas-illegal-unreported-and-unregulated-fishing-fleet", "Sen. Cruz Leads Bipartisan Letter Urging Sanctions on China\u2019s Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Fleet", "2026-07-24", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "TX", "Ted Cruz", "C001098", "www.cruz.senate.gov", "cruz", "https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent outlining a strategy to counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing conducted by China\u2019s distant-water fleet. The letter identifies vulnerabilities in China\u2019s IUU fishing fleet linked to its reliance on a relatively limited number of support vessels, calls for the imposition of sanctions on such vessels, and specifically identifies 29 currently unsanctioned vessels.\n\nThe letter is co-signed by U.S. Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).\n\nSen. Cruz said, \u201cThe Chinese Communist Party is using its global distant-water fleet to conduct ecocide across at least three continents in both hemispheres. They kill endangered species by the hundreds and sharks, whales, and dolphins by the thousands, and have destroyed tens of thousands of acres of coral reefs. Their fleet uses coerced laborers, who are subjected to physical abuse, malnutrition, overwork, and withheld pay. They could not conduct these activities without supply ships, including reefers, tankers, and floating bases. The U.S. should bolster our Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities to identify these vessels, and then we should use every available option to sanction and disrupt them.\u201d\n\nSen. Sullivan said, \u201cChinese trawl fleets ravage fish stocks in every corner of the world\u2019s oceans without regard for any other users or future generations. These fleets also engage in gross human rights abuses, including utilizing slave labor. I\u2019ve led the fight against this cancer on our fisheries, authoring the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest (FISH) Act, which passed the Senate in March. Working with Senator Cruz and my colleagues, we\u2019ve identified another powerful channel to target these evasive IUU fleets\u2014by tightening the screws on the relatively few support vessels that enable Chinese IUU fleets to continue their abusive practices. We are urging Secretary Bessent to deploy the numerous Treasury Department tools and designations available to aggressively sanction these support vessels and dismantle the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s hub-and-spoke IUU fishing scheme. Doing so will enhance the sustainability of our oceans and help support America\u2019s and Alaska\u2019s hard-working fishermen and our many coastal fishing communities.\u201d\n\nSen. Kim said, \u201cChina\u2019s dark fleets and forced labor threaten New Jersey\u2019s fishing industries, our supply chains, and our national security. Without action, global ecosystems and economies will suffer irreversible harm. I\u2019m proud to join this bipartisan effort to use all of our tools to stop it.\u201d\n\nSen. Cotton said, \u201cVessels that support and protect China\u2019s illegal, unregulated fishing fleet threaten our maritime security and American\u2019s livelihoods. We are encouraging Secretary Bessent to sanction these vessels.\u201d\n\nSen. Coons said, \u201cChina\u2019s illegal fishing fleet is destroying our oceans and making it harder for our allies to fish right off their own coasts, threatening whole communities\u2019 livelihoods and ability to feed themselves. It also hurts American fishermen who are undercut by cheap, illegally harvested fish. This bipartisan letter calls on the administration to take action to protect our and our allies national and food security against China.\u201d\n\nSen. Wicker said, \u201cIllegal, unreported, and unregulated Chinese fishing vessels threaten the American maritime economy. It is a no-brainer that the United States should sanction these Chinese ships to protect our fishing industry.\u201d\n\nSen. Young said, \u201cChina\u2019s distant water fishing fleet continues to disrupt global and regional fishing economies. Through overfishing and illegal incursions into foreign waters, China seeks to undermine the global fishing industry until there is nothing left. The United States must take steps to combat these activities and promote American fishing practices, which remain the gold standard for sustainable fishing.\u201d\n\nSen. Scott said, \u201cThe Chinese Communist Party is evil and barbaric. They are using slave labor and violating human rights on the high seas to prop up their regime, undermine America\u2019s economy, and attack our way of life. America needs to do everything we can to end this practice, stop the oppression, and protect American workers at the same time. I will always stand up to Xi and the CCP\u2014whether it\u2019s cutting off these state-sponsored slave fishing fleets or blocking Chinese military companies from American markets\u2014we need to start treating China like the enemy they are.\u201d\n\nSen. Blackburn said, \u201cThe Chinese Communist Party is committing gross human rights abuses by using forced labor on its fleet of thousands of fishing vessels that engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. We are urging Secretary Bessent to counter this malign activity by sanctioning the support vessels that enable this Chinese water fishing fleet so we can ensure we are not doing business with them.\u201d", 1, "2026-07-25T07:13:44Z", "2026-07-25T07:15:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-leads-bipartisan-letter-urging-sanctions-on-chinas-illegal-unreported-and-unregulated-fishing-fleet"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7988400757312775, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}