The Obama Administration announced a plan of action to end illegal fishing and fraud by launching a fish tracking program that would make more information—like point of origin and means of production—available to consumers.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration along with the State Department made the announcement in Boston Sunday.
According to the White house, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing leads to global losses between $10 and $23 billion each year.
The plan seeks to implement steps issued by a task force last year that will include “measures to create and expand domestic partnerships to detect black market fishing and seafood fraud, strengthen enforcement, and develop a traceability program to track seafood from harvest to entry into U.S. commerce, beginning with the species most at risk for trafficking,” according to Brian Deese, senior advisor to the president and Christy Goldfuss, leader of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.