Yesterday, President Obama signed the instrument that will allow the United States to join the Port State Measures Agreement. This important step in the ratification process follows the passage by Congress of the bipartisan Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015 and brings the United States in line to become the twentieth party to ratify the Agreement.

By joining the Port State Measures Agreement, the United States commits to work together with other nations to prevent illegally caught fish from entering into commerce worldwide by reducing the number of ports where these fishing products can be unloaded and making it harder for bad actors to do business. I hope other countries around the world will work urgently to ratify this vital Agreement as well.

In September, I will host the third Our Ocean conference in Washington. Joined by partners across the globe, we will take further steps to stem the tide of illegal fishing. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to protect the ocean and its resources.