407 Maritime Patrol Squadron is responsible for the surveillance of Canadian coastal waters. Traditionally, this has meant watching for foreign submarines off our coasts.
Today, this is only one part of their surveillance role with threats to Canadian security being no longer strictly military.

Flying five CP-140 Auroras, the crews spend long hours over the ocean looking for illegal fishing, migrant and drug smuggling and polluters. They also can perform SAR missions using air-droppable survival pods.

In recent years, 407 crews have attracted media attention for their part in enforcing the UN moratorium on high-seas driftnet fishing in support of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. 407 crews have also been deployed with Operation Apollo as part of Canada's commitment to the War on Terrorism.

So far, they have detected and gathered evidence against over a dozen suspected driftnet vessels, most of which have been operating in the Russian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Every two years, members of 407 Squadron gear up for Exercise RIMPAC in the South Pacific, a 4-week multinational naval exercise. Canada is one of six Pacific Rim nations that take part in the exercise, the largest of its kind in the Pacific. Over 50 ships, 200 Aircraft and 22,000 sailors, marines, soldiers and aircrew from Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries participate in the annual exercise.