New investigation detailing how China is the world's largest perpetrator of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing

Opinion Article | China’s Fishing Offensive: How China’s Fishing Fleet Monopolizes Food Around the World

UNITED STATES
Friday, January 16, 2026, 05:50 (GMT + 9)

Today, Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the Select Committee on China and Chairman Carlos Giménez (R-FL) of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee released a new investigation detailing how China is the world's largest perpetrator of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The investigation details how China commands the world's largest distant-water fishing (DWF) fleet—estimated to include upwards of 16,000 vessels—and uses it to intimidate other countries, control the world’s food supply, and decimate fisheries around the world. The fleet also relies on forced labor and human rights abuses that go unchecked while China monopolizes seafood processing. More than 80 percent of U.S. seafood is imported, and much of it relies on supply chains controlled by China.

“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,” said Moolenaar.

“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," said Giménez.

The investigation’s five core findings are:

• China developed a global system that removes distance as a limit on fishing.
• China has monopolized the processing of global seafood supplies through Chinese hubs.
• China engineered a permanent, state-supported cost advantage across all major production inputs.
• China converted seafood processing dominance in global seafood processing power.
• China manipulates global seafood markets to eliminate U.S. processing capacity and increase American dependence.

"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," the investigation writes.

"The United States now imports over 80 percent of its seafood, facing a deepening dependence on supply chains controlled by the PRC, the world's largest seafood exporter with $18.5 billion in annual trade."

The investigation details how China uses the fleet to extend state power beyond its borders: leveraging fishing access for diplomatic purposes, subordinating civilian vessels to military command, and deploying the fleet for intelligence collection. The military integration is explicit in the seas closest to China, where it maintains a state-directed maritime militia drawn from fishing vessels. Operating under the command of China's military, these vessels feature reinforced hulls and water cannons for coercive tasks, while specialized reconnaissance elements track foreign naval activity and report to Chinese military leaders.

The investigation outlines several policy recommendations to combat the PRC's distant water fleet, including:

• Enable allied and partner nations to detect, disrupt, and eliminate IUU fishing in their waters by authorizing and funding the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to expand training operations, targeted patrols, and international engagements.
• Increase the visibility of the ties between Chinese commercial fishing and illicit maritime activity by mandating an interagency study on the connections between Chinese commercial fishing and illegal activity and directing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to expand maritime domain awareness and intelligence sharing.
• Require all international fishing vessels to obtain unique identifiers and empower an U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing to lead a 'Fish for Security' coalition linking fisheries governance and maritime stability.

Read the full investigation here.

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