Today, the Select Committee on China and the House Homeland Security Committee’s Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee released an investigation examining China’s role in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The report highlights that China operates the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet, with estimates of over 16,000 vessels. According to the investigation, this fleet is used to intimidate other countries, control global food supplies, and cause significant damage to fisheries worldwide. The report also points out concerns about forced labor and human rights abuses within these operations.
Chairman John Moolenaar stated, “The Select Committee has documented how numerous American industries have supply chain concerns that leave the United States vulnerable to China, and the food supply is no exception. This investigation details how the CCP turned unregulated fishing to its advantage and manipulated the world’s food supply in the process. Working with allies we can address vulnerabilities to the food supply the American people rely on and put a stop to China’s exploitation of the oceans.”
Chairman Carlos Giménez added, “Communist China’s fishing fleet is not a commercial enterprise; it is a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP commands the world’s largest fishing armada like a military force, using it to strip resources from nations, exploit forced labor, destroy marine ecosystems, and dominate global seafood supply chains. The Communist Chinese strategy to monopolize food systems, while devastating economies from West Africa to Latin America, have directly impacted our national security. Our laws were written to regulate fishermen, not to confront a subsidized, state-run fleet designed to evade enforcement and project power. This investigation exposes the reality: the CCP is using seafood as a tool of coercion, and the United States must treat this threat for what it is, a direct threat to our national security and economic sovereignty.”
The report identifies five main findings:
– China has developed systems that allow its fishing fleets to operate globally without distance constraints.
– It has monopolized seafood processing through centralized hubs.
– State support gives Chinese companies cost advantages in production.
– Processing dominance has increased China’s influence over global seafood supplies.
– Manipulation of markets by China reduces U.S. processing capacity and increases reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains.
“These findings expose a deliberate, state-directed campaign by the CCP to achieve maritime dominance, monopolize food systems, and undermine the rules-based international order—constituting a direct threat to U.S. national security, economic sovereignty, and global stability,” according to statements from investigators.
“The United States now imports over 80 percent of its seafood, facing a deepening dependence on supply chains controlled by the PRC [People’s Republic of China], the world’s largest seafood exporter with $18.5 billion in annual trade.”
The investigation also describes how China uses its distant-water fleet for diplomatic leverage by integrating civilian vessels into military operations for intelligence collection and coercive activities near its borders.
Policy recommendations include expanding United States Coast Guard training with partner nations against IUU fishing; requiring interagency studies into links between Chinese commercial fishing and illicit activity; enhancing intelligence sharing; mandating unique identifiers for all international fishing vessels; and forming an interagency group focused on linking fisheries governance with maritime stability.
For more information or access to the full report visit: Read the full investigation here.
