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H.R. 6338: Stop Illegal Fishing Act
119th Congress · introduced 2025-12-01 · Public Lands and Natural Resources · Latest: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
federal
Official title
Stop Illegal Fishing Act
Plain summary
Stop Illegal Fishing Act This bill requires the President to impose sanctions on foreign vessels and persons engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing). The bill directs the President to block and prohibit all transactions involving property (including interests in property) of a covered foreign vessel or person if such property comes within the United States or within the possession or control of a U.S. person. The President must also deny or revoke any visa or other entry documentation issued to or sought by a covered foreign person. Civil and criminal penalties apply to violations, including attempts or conspiracies to violate the sanctions. A covered foreign vessel is any vessel that is registered or operated under the authority of a foreign country and engages in IUU fishing. Covered foreign persons are individuals or entities that are not U.S. persons and knowingly (1) own any vessel that engages in IUU fishing, (2) work as a captain or senior crew member on any vessel that engages in IUU fishing, (3) operate as an entity primarily engaged in IUU fishing, or (4) serve as an officer or senior manager in an entity primarily engaged in IUU fishing. The President may waive the application of these sanctions after notifying Congress that the waiver is important to U.S. national security interests. Other exceptions apply, such as to provide life-saving assistance to a covered vessel. The bill directs the President to periodically report to Congress on efforts to carry out these provisions.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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What does this mean? (plain words)
Official text
Stop Illegal Fishing Act
Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
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Officials and money
Sponsor: Rep. Meeks, Gregory W. [D-NY-5] · 3 cosponsors
Money: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 6338, Stop Illegal Fishing Act (2025-12-19) No linked contracts or vendors yet.
Words on this page, explained (2)
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
- Securities
- Financial investments that can be bought and sold, such as stocks and bonds.
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119hr6338.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr>
Record fed-us-cong119-hr6338 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills