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CCA Testifies Before Congress against Fish Pirates

Remarks focus on need for market controls to combat IUU fishing


WASHINGTON, DC – CCA General Counsel Robert G. Hayes testified before the House Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans today, and called on Congress to initiate agreements to control the international markets for seafood to put an end to IUU fishing.

“There are three distinct areas that need better compliance,” said Hayes. “First, is the continued problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Second, is the need for regional fishery management organizations to enforce rules against their own members, and third is the need for transparency in the national implementation of adopted conservation measures, such as those that the shark-fining bill addresses.”

Hayes urged Congress to initiate international measures for those three scenarios that are enforceable through the imposition of trade measures, including the embargo of all related fishery products from the offending country.

“The US must consider the failure of any member country to impose trade measures as an IUU act,” he said. “We as a country have to take these violations seriously and act on them.”

International fisheries measures now in place depend on the integrity of the nation states to implement them and not every nation has the same view of its obligation as the United States. Hayes encouraged Congress to pass legislation that requires the State Department to verify the implementation of every regional fishery management organization (RFMO) measure by member states. If a member fails to do so, the U.S. could identify the country and eventually impose market measures.

“All of this may sound daunting, but it is the process now in place,” Hayes said. “If Congress wants to make the system work, there must be legislation requiring the U.S. to initiate an international agreement for market controls to ensure compliance with RFMO measures. We have had similar agreements for textiles, coffee and listed species. The application of market controls produces discipline in the exploitation of natural resources. The problems facing our fisheries are more acute and right off our coast, and CCA believes the time has come to take a more proactive approach.”


ROBERT G. HAYES
CCA General Counsel
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Mr. Hayes is an alumnus of Boston University (B.S. 1968) and the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University (J.D. 1974). He was a U.S. Army Infantry Lieutenant from 1968-1971. Mr. Hayes was an attorney for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

During that time he was NOAA's Southeast Regional Counsel and NMFS' Deputy General Counsel for Fisheries. From 1981 to 1984 he was the Director of the NMFS Office of Industry Services. As Director of Industry Services, he was the primary negotiator for the United States on bilateral fishery trade negotiations with Japan, Korea, Spain, France, and Portugal, and a member of the U.S. delegation on the U.S.-Japan Sub-cabinet Committee on Trade. Mr. Hayes has been in private practice from 1984 to 2007 and practices in the areas of fisheries, natural resources, energy and international trade.

While in private practice Mr. Hayes has represented numerous recreational fishing organizations including the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association, United Sport Fishermen, the Congressional Sportsman’s Caucus Foundation, the Gulf Coast Conservation Association, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, the Future Fisherman Foundation, FishAmerica Foundation, the American Sportfishing Association, The Billfish Foundation, the Coastal Conservation Association and the Center for Coastal Conservation. He is presently a U.S. Commissioner to ICCAT and is a member of the Vermont and District of Columbia Bars.


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