Sullivan and Cruz ask Treasury to sanction 29 vessels supplying China's fishing fleet

Nine U.S. senators are asking the Treasury Department to sanction 29 named ships that resupply China's distant-water fishing fleet, arguing the fleet's cheap, illegally harvested catch undercuts American fishermen in the market.

Sens. Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Ted Cruz of Texas led the bipartisan letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, released Thursday. It targets support vessels rather than the fishing boats themselves: reefers, tankers, and floating bases that let trawlers stay at sea for extended periods. The letter asks Treasury to add those vessels, along with their owners and beneficial owners, to the Office of Foreign Assets Control's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, known as the SDN List.

The senators describe the fleet's practices as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, a category commonly abbreviated as IUU.

"Working with Senator Cruz and my colleagues, we've identified another powerful channel to target these evasive IUU fleets—by tightening the screws on the relatively few support vessels that enable Chinese IUU fleets to continue their abusive practices," Sullivan said in a statement released with the letter. He said the action would help support American and Alaskan fishermen and coastal fishing communities.

Cruz said the fleet "could not conduct these activities without supply ships, including reefers, tankers, and floating bases." He also called for the United States to strengthen its Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities to identify those vessels before moving to sanction and disrupt them. The senators allege the fleet uses coerced labor and kills endangered species. Those are the senators' characterizations. The Senate press release announcing the letter did not include any response from the Chinese government or from the vessels' owners.

Sens. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat; Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat; and Republicans Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Todd Young of Indiana, Rick Scott of Florida, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee co-signed the letter.

Not everyone who fishes in Alaska sees foreign fleets as the central problem. Secure Alaska's Future, which surveys residents on fishery policy, has said 82% of respondents reported that commercial fishing affects their lives "through work, their community, or Alaska's cost of living." Other Alaskans posting about the issue have argued that trawl bycatch, warming oceans, and labor abuses closer to home are doing more damage to state fisheries than imported fish.

Treasury has used these tools before. In December 2023, OFAC sanctioned two individuals and related entities and identified 157 vessels flagged to the People's Republic of China.