

Conservation activities or their lack in countries outside the United States can either enhance or undermine our own fisheries management and conservation efforts.
The United States imports over 90 percent of its seafood from other nations. Some countries in the Latin America, Asia Pacific and West African regions are overwhelmed by the increasing demand for their fisheries products, while many lack the necessary management and/or enforcement capacity to sustainably manage their marine resources. Conservation activities or their lack in countries outside the United States can either enhance or undermine our own fisheries management and conservation efforts.
Our international cooperation efforts focus on the following three priority areas:
1) Combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing through monitoring, control and surveillance initiatives
(2) Building capacity of countries to sustainably manage their fisheries resources – improving their fisheries governance; and
(3) Supporting the recovery of protected species and bycatch mitigation.