Auroras conduct high seas stake-out
Capt Jeff Manney
19 Wing Comox
October 15, 2007
Having already found and photographed three vessels suspected of illegal fishing, two Canadian Forces Aurora Long Range Patrol aircraft are continuing a search of breathtaking magnitude in the North Pacific.
Operation Driftnet, which is led by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and supported by the Department of National Defence, scours nearly two-million square kilometres of ocean for signs of High Seas Driftnet (HSDN) fishing, one of the most destructive forms of illegal, unregulated or unreported fishing.
Flying from Shemya Island, Alaska, Auroras from Vancouver Island’s 407 Maritime Patrol Squadron and Nova Scotia’s 405 Maritime Patrol Squadron form the backbone of Operation Driftnet. Fishery officers from DFO and its U.S. counterpart, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are also on board.
High Seas Driftnet vessels target vulnerable species such as salmon, albacore and flying squid with nets extending up to 40 kilometres in length. The nets trap everything in their path, leading to a significant “bycatch” of other species, including seabirds and marine mammals.
Nets lost at sea often continue to fish for years in a phenomenon known as “ghost fishing.”
In the encounter that began in mid-September, the Aurora’s powerful radar detected three vessels in its search area, an isolated no man’s land some 5,000 kilometres from Canada’s West Coast at the crossroads of the international salmon migration highway. Remaining unseen, the crew monitored the fishing vessels activities from long range using the aircraft’s state-of-the-art electro-optical camera system.
When the Aurora finally revealed itself, skimming low over the vessels, the crew found and recorded evidence indicating all three were rigged for driftnet fishing. Their suspicions were confirmed when the boats began maneuvering in an attempt to hide their markings from the aircraft’s cameras. One sailor was spotted dumping papers overboard.
Radio calls to the ships also went unanswered, although the Aurora’s crew intercepted a single, brief transmission from one of them: “We are leaving.”
Meanwhile, a nearby United States Coast Guard vessel had its hands full with another driftnetter. Acting on a tip from a Japanese patrol aircraft, the Coast Guard cutter Boutwell, carrying a Chinese fisheries enforcement officer, tracked down the Lu Rong Yu 6007.
Despite attempts by the Chinese ship to foul one of the cutter’s zodiacs (an inflatable motorized boat), the vessel was boarded. Driftnets, as well as a hold full of swordfish and shark were discovered. Floating nearby were 3,000 metres of abandoned netting.
With Boutwell now diverted to escort the Lu Rong Yu to a high seas rendezvous with a Chinese patrol boat, the Aurora’s three targets will be monitored and tracked until Boutwell or another enforcement vessel can hunt them down.
Operation Driftnet patrols began in 1993 after the United Nations imposed a moratorium on large-scale High Seas Driftnet fishing and banned nets more than 2.5 kilometres in length. In concert with five other Pacific nations - the United States, Russia, Japan, Korea and China - the Government of Canada has continued to protect vulnerable fish stocks in the open ocean.
Due in part to information gathered by Canadian Air Force Auroras, 59 vessels have so far been implicated in illegal, unregulated or unreported fishing. In 2006 alone, Aurora patrols spotted more than 20 vessels fishing with illegal nets.
Not all detections promise such high seas drama. Often, photos and video obtained by Aurora crews are compiled after the fact by DFO and distributed to enforcement partner nations and the offending nation. Past successes have included fines, seizures of boats and even jail time for some crewmembers.
Obtaining sufficient proof for such outcomes in the middle of the North Pacific, where poor weather often reduces visibility to zero, is no easy task.
Fortunately the Aurora’s 9,000-kilometre range, 14-hour endurance and potent new camera have made it a formidable force in an area so remote as to be once considered lawless.
