Comox Aurora spots suspicious fishing vessel

A suspected driftnet trawler loiters near a salmon migration route in the North Pacific. Comox-based Auroras and Fisheries and Oceans Canada are joining forces to put an end to the destructive fishing practice. Photo by 407 Squadron.

CFB COMOX – The discovery to date of just one suspicious vessel along a salmon migration route is good news for salmon stocks, say military and fishery officers hunting illegal driftnet trawlers in the North Pacific.

The crew of a Comox-based Aurora long-range patrol aircraft spotted the boat on May 19 with its nets piled on deck. The find came one week into a joint Canadian-U.S. operation to enforce a 1993 UN moratorium into the destructive fishing practice. Military crews from Comox and Greenwood, N.S., officers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the U.S. National Marine and Fisheries Service, and elements of the United States Coast Guard are taking part in the search.

Driftnetters are modern day pirates, trailing plastic nets that can reach 40 kilometres in length. The nets ensnare anything in their path, including other species of fish, porpoises and even seabirds. If they happen to tear loose, driftnets can go on fishing for years. Known as “ghost fishing”, the nearly indestructible nets sink with the weight of their catch, only to resurface later to continue the cycle once their contents decompose.

Despite the UN sanction, driftnetters have relied on the anonymity of the vast Pacific as they continue to target lucrative salmon stocks. The driftnet hunters hope their presence will change that. From a temporary base on Shemya, Alaska, a tiny, windswept island perched at the western edge of the Aleutian chain, Maj. Mike Gibbs says the patrols seem to be working.

“The numbers of driftnetters we’ve found over the years has been declining,” Gibbs says. “Whether it’s because they’re on to us or because economic conditions have changed enough that the risk of fishing illegally simply isn’t worth it, we don’t know. Either way, we’re winning.”

by Capt Jeff Manney