Report

The United States Lacey Act: its application to fisheries, and considerations for the potential adoption of Lacey-like provisions in the countries of the Western Indian Ocean

The United States’ Lacey Act has become well-known around the world for its unique approach to combatting the international trafficking of wildlife, fish, and plants. Broadly, the Lacey Act makes it illegal to engage in commerce in the United States (U.S) of any wildlife, fish, and plants that were taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any U.S. (including state and tribal) or foreign law.

While the Lacey Act has been and is increasingly being used to combat the trafficking of everything from birds to reptiles and even timber, this brief focuses on the Act’s application to fisheries and the potential adoption of similar Lacey-like provisions by other countries in order to better combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

To begin, this brief outlines a condensed history of the evolution of the Lacey Act in order to demonstrate how it has come to be in its present version. From there, this brief presents a summary of the key Lacey Act provisions that relate to fisheries. Next, three past Lacey Act fisheries cases are highlighted in order to demonstrate the circumstances in which they arose and how the Act was applied to deter further IUU fishing. Then, this brief discusses the potential adoption of Lacey-like provisions by other countries, in this instance the members of FISH-i Africa. This discussion begins by outlining the associated implications of a Lacey-like provision, including the obligations, financial impacts, advantages, and disadvantages.

This brief then concludes by presenting textual examples of Lacey-like provisions that currently are included in the laws of various countries and a summary of the key components for consideration when drafting a Lacey-like provision.