Vancouver—Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced today that in cooperation with the Department of National Defence it continued the annual high seas driftnet surveillance operation in the northwest Pacific in 2001. The two departments have been conducting air surveillance patrols of the northwest Pacific looking for the presence of illegal high seas driftnet fishing activity since 1992. Large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas is a highly destructive practice. Despite coordinated enforcement efforts among countries, this practice continues to occur in the North Pacific. Driftnets are not species specific and frequently ensnare birds and marine mammals. This year, Canadian surveillance patrols began on April 2, 2001 and continued until April 28, 2001. A Canadian Forces patrol team consisting of two CP-140 "Aurora" aircraft from CFB Comox, two flight crews, and maintenance and support personnel operated from Shemya, Alaska. Two fishery officers representing Fisheries and Oceans Canada provided operational expertise including recognition of fishing vessel types and collection of evidence. During these patrols, no vessels were spotted actively fishing. A suspicious vessel was detected, however, there was no evidence that it was performing any high seas driftnet fishing. In comparison, during the 2000 surveillance operation, crews sighted two vessels actively fishing, one of which was apprehended by the United States Coast Guard patrol vessel. Canada is a signatory to the Convention for the Conservation of Anadromous Stocks in the North Pacific Ocean along with the United States, Japan and Russia. These countries have agreed to coordinate enforcement activities to stop illegal salmon fishing on the high seas of the North Pacific. All patrols were closely co-ordinated between Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian Forces, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Soviet Border Service, through a joint operations centre set up in Alaska. These same four countries had an in-season enforcement coordination meeting in Russia from May 14 to 17, 2001 to discuss means of improving the coordination and effectiveness of these patrols. As part of the meeting, they conducted a patrol during which a Russian vessel was observed high seas driftnet fishing near the convention area just inside the Russian Exclusive Economic Zone. The vessel was apprehended by a Russian Border service vessel and escorted into the Russian town of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. The vessel master was changed and his case is currently before the courts. The Russian Border Service and the United States Coast Guard will continue to conduct aircraft and vessel patrols of the North Pacific for the remainder of the season. - 30 -
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