The United States Senate has passed legislation to crack down on illegal fishing in American territories in the Pacific.
The Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act 2015 takes aim at the illegal fishing market, which is estimated to be worth between 10 billion and 24 billion US dollars.
The Act will allow the coast guard to increase inspections and monitoring of foreign vessels, broaden data sharing with other governments and mean illegal fishing will incur harsher penalties.
Photo: 123RF
The Act covers 384,000 square miles of ocean.
The Bill was authored by Guam's Madeleine Bordallo and co-sponsored by American Samoa's Aumua Amata Radewagen and the CNMI's Greg Kilili Sablan.
It has been sent to the US President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
