US president Barrack Obama-led task force has drafted a 40-page report planning to curb black-market fishing and mislabelling of seafood, which costs the US and the world billions of dollars of fishing revenue.
The US stands second after Europe as the biggest importer of seafood.
The aim of the report is to track fish and crustaceans from the point of catch to the place they are sent. Included in the report are 15 measures to thwart seafood fraud, one of which is putting pressure on foreign governments to deal firmly with pirates who fish in the waters of other countries.
Tracking data, including details of the fisherman catching the fish, place where they were caught and implements used to catch the fish will be generated by local, state and federal authorities for all seafood that is shipped into the US.
Announcing these sweeping measures at the Seafood Expo North America, deputy secretary of the US Commerce Department, Bruce Andrews, said: "The task force's new strategic plan will aggressively implement recommendations to guarantee that US fishing fleets remain competitive in the global economy."
These actions follow an investigation over three years back by Boston Globe, which brought to light the rampant mislabelling of fish and how low-quality seafood was sold in stores and restaurants in Massachusetts.
Most of the seafood that Americans consume are imported, though almost 10 billion pounds of seafood worth $5.5bn were caught by US fishermen in 2013. The global fishing industry is faced with losses of nearly $23bn per year due to illegal fishing and is also facing problems in monitoring the endangered species list.
President Obama has proposed $3m in the 2016 budget plan for enforcement agents at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is in charge of complicated illegal imports.
