The Los Angeles Post

Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press

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Lima, Peru

Chorrillos Fish Market

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good morning, everyone.  Thank you for joining me for breakfast.  It’s, first of all, wonderful to be here and to have heard from some of our colleagues who are part of something that is fundamental to Peru, to its economy, to its culture, and benefits so many people around the world, including the United States, which is fishing.

One of the big challenges that we see here in Peru but also in many countries around the world is the problem of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.  It’s having a profound impact on stocks of fish, on the livelihoods of fisherpeople, on sustainability.  And what we’re working on – and I’m proud to say working in collaboration with the Walton Family Foundation, USAID – are programs to help deal with the challenge of illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing.  And we’re doing that here in Peru with a new program that we’re putting forward today.

Working closely with this community, we will help the Peruvians formalize the work of the community.  That will allow all of us to improve the sustainability of the industry and, as a result, save livelihoods, save an entire way of life, and make sure that that’s the case for many, many years to come.

So we’re very pleased to be doing this in partnership with colleagues here in Peru, but I think it’s also a model of what we need to be doing and we are doing in many other places where this is a growing challenge.  It’s something that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.  We have many countries around the world where fishing is at the heart of their economy and the heart of their culture as well where illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing is a real and growing challenge.  So we’re working to try to deal with that, to get ahead of it, and to do it in partnership with our friends here in Peru.

So thanks for joining us today, get a chance to see this.  I also very much commend to you, if you have a moment, you need lunch or dinner, this is the place.  And the sandwiches that we just had, boy, that is a great way to start the day.  So, thank you.  (Applause.)