S 4720 119th Congress Senate Public Lands and Natural Resources

Protecting U.S. Fishers from Illegal Foreign Flags Act of 2026

Introduced: June 9, 2026 Introduced by: Merkley, Jeff Democratic · Oregon See on congress.gov

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Jun 9, 2026

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Jun 9, 2026

Introduced in Senate

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Plain-language summary AI · grounded in the bill record

Allow Commerce Secretary to identify open-registry nations for illegal fishing.

This bill would change how the Secretary of Commerce identifies countries that engage in or support illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing. Specifically, it would let the Secretary consider nations with open ship registries when making those identifications. Open registries allow ships from other countries to register under a nation's flag. The bill amends the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. It is currently in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

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What's happening now June 9, 2026

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
Senate

Cosponsors 2

Sullivan, Dan

Alaska · Jun 18, 2026

Wicker, Roger F.

Mississippi · Jun 9, 2026

Cite this page click to expand

APA

U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 4720: Protecting U.S. Fishers from Illegal Foreign Flags Act of 2026. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-4720/

MLA

"S. 4720: Protecting U.S. Fishers from Illegal Foreign Flags Act of 2026." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-4720/.

Bluebook (legal)

S. 4720, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-4720/.

Markdown link

[S. 4720: Protecting U.S. Fishers from Illegal Foreign Flags Act of 2026](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-4720/)