Fishery officers and crew of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier recently returned to port in Victoria, British Columbia, after having successfully completed this year’s mission to detect and deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
The mission, known as Operation North Pacific Guard (Op.NPG), is an annual, multi-national effort to coordinate fisheries enforcement to protect global fish stocks.
Led by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) fishery officers and supported by personnel from the Canadian Coast Guard, Op.NPG includes high seas patrols, air surveillance, and satellite monitoring. Additional support was provided by officers from the US Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Over the course of Op.NPG, officers and support personnel patrolled approximately 20,000 kilometres while on board Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
While at sea, fishery officers conducted inspections under international law of 15 fishing vessels. Fishery officers found illegally harvested shark fins, evidence of fishing during a closed season and unreported catch, and documented instances of marine pollution.
In addition, DFO fishery officers found a number of vessels with their monitoring systems switched off, commonly referred to as “dark vessels.”
The boardings also presented Canadian officers with their first opportunity to enforce the newly adopted ban on Pacific salmon retention, which has been in force for North Pacific fishing fleets since this July.
Complementing the monitoring and enforcement by sea, Canada conducted daily aerial surveillance this summer out of Hokkaido, Japan. In collaboration with fishery officers from Japan and South Korea, DFO fishery officers and air crew flew a total of 50,419 nautical miles over the course of 34 patrols, and visually inspected 407 vessels.
Fishery officers reported incidents of shark finning, the targeted harvest of dolphins, pollution incidents, and vessel marking violations.
Canada is now working with the appropriate flag states to support further investigations and sanctions on offending vessels. The government will also continue to take action to support law-abiding harvesters, including collaborating with international partners to safeguard global marine ecosystems.
