Stop Illegal Fishing Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
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.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on December 1, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 9, 2026: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Gregory Meeks (D-NY) introduced it on December 1, 2025, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 1, 2025, 283 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 93 days ago, on June 9, 2026.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers