Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard Thirteenth District

Date: Mar. 26, 2008
Contact: Public Affairs
206 220 7237

International guardians of the North Pacific

By Petty Officer 1st Class Anastasia Devlin 

Guarding the largest body of water on Earth is a big job. To provide protection for even half of that is, at best, a challenge. 

"The North Pacific Ocean is such a large body of water that it's impossible for one country to patrol and oversee that entire domain," said forum planning lead Capt. Robert Day, Deputy Commander of the Maintenance and Logistics Command Pacific. 

Given this immense challenge, the countries surrounding the North Pacific formed a group willing to share resources and information. The first meeting of this group, dubbed the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum, was held in Tokyo in 2000, and has met semiannually ever since. 

Members from coast guards and their civilian maritime counterparts in Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States met again Mar. 24 – 27, continuing the progress made on topics related to drug trafficking, maritime security, fisheries enforcement and illegal migration. 

Each year, the first of the two meetings, called the experts’ meeting, is held in the spring. Here, the groundwork is done on ideas and recommendations that will be presented to each country's civil maritime leaders during the second meeting, which is held in the fall. 

Day appreciates the countries’ dedication toward improving operations in the Pacific. 

"This needs to be a coordinated and collaborated effort, and I think everybody that's involved with it sees the benefit of it," said Day. 

Each year, the forum builds on the work of the last year’s efforts. Last year, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell, in cooperation with the Japanese, Canadian and Chinese governments, seized six vessels engaged in illegal high-seas driftnet fishing. This year, 71 delegates and experts from as many as 17 agencies will be attending to work on strategies and tactics during the forum.

Participation in the NPCGF strengthens international relationships and increases the international community's ability to address challenges on a greater scale. The success of the partnerships formed is attributed to several factors, including equality among partners, voluntary participation, self-government, and shared interests. It also helps the Coast Guard rely upon its partner nations to perform missions that it historically had to do unilaterally. The successes of the NPCGF have even been used as a model for the newly developed North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum.

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Coast Guard, saving lives since 1790.