Canadian official reveals Ottawa wants to get more involved in the Pacific

Canada is interested in the possibility of initiating joint patrol missions with its regional partners and allies in the Asian Pacific according to the country’s Ambassador to Japan, Ian McKay. 

News of Ottawa’s interest in getting more involved in the Asian Pacific follows Canada’s first-ever port call in Japan, where Fisheries and Oceans Canada revealed the launch of a new counter-illegal fishing mission. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @FisheriesOceansCanada

From the port of Yokohama in Japan, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced it will head up a high-seas mission to “deter and detect” illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IIU) fishing in the North Pacific according to a Canadian government press release. 

Photo Credit: X @fishoceanscan

The new mission was titled Operation North Pacific Guard and is a multinational effort to coordinate the enforcement of global rules on fisheries and it aims to provide better protection for fish stocks in the region. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @FisheriesOceansCanada

Operation North Pacific Guard will see fishery officers supported by the Canadian Coast Guard, as well as the United States Coast Guard and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Photo Credit: X @fishoceanscan

The new anti-illegal fishing mission will include air surveillance and satellite monitors in the North Pacific. Operation North Pacific Guard will also include sea patrols, which will include the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Sir Wilfrid Laurier. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By CambridgeBayWeather, Own Work, CC BY-SA 4.0

CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier, a high-endurance, multi-purpose vessel, will patrol over 7,500 kilometers (4660 miles) of the North Pacific with fishery officers onboard and searching for illegal and unregulated fishing activities. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @CanadianCoastGuard

“The expert crew will conduct high seas boardings and inspection operations under international law to ensure compliance with regulations and to detect IUU fishing,” the Canadian government’s press release on the mission noted. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @FisheriesOceansCanada

Missions like Operation North Pacific Guard will become more frequent for Canada as Ottawa looks to get more involved in the North-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions as part of its commitment to its allies according to Canada’s Ambassador to Japan Ian McKay.

Photo Credit: Screenshot X @_IanMcKay

“I think the new resources we have committed to this particular initiative… help us increase what we're doing in Japan, but also work with partners to go a little bit deeper into the region,” McKay told The Japan Times during a recent interview. 

“The fact that we just had a Coast Guard ship in Japan to complement the work that our (fisheries surveillance) aircraft has been doing, allows us to invite partners to ride with us and to do joint missions,” McKay continued. 

Photo Credit: Screenshot X @FishOceansCAN

The Canadian Ambassador to Japan also noted that future missions might extend all the way to the Philippines, where he said illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing was also a “big issue.”

“We're not alone in this effort,” McKay added.“We're doing our part in ... the North Pacific and we're getting a little bit deeper into the region, so the more partners that we can work with over the months and years ahead, the better.”

The Japan Times reported that Canada is a leader in Dark Vessel Detection technology designed to help identify illegal fishing vessels, but it also noted Ottawa is interested in expanding its operations in the region for more than just anti-illegal fishing missions. 

One of Canada’s major strategic goals in the region is to expand its defense ties with its regional partners in the Pacific to counter the growing challenges that nations like North Korea, Russia, China are posing in the region. 

“We are a Pacific nation and ... Canada, along with many of our allies, believes that coercive activity by anybody in any region, (including) the unilateral ignoring of the rules-based international order is something that shouldn't be tolerated,” McKay told The Japan Times.

Photo Credit: X @COIC_CJOC

Previous years have seen Ottawa deploy the Royal Canadian Navy episodically in the region. However, in 2023, Canada deployed three ships to the Indo-Pacific and Ottawa is planning to deploy another three to the area before the end of 2024. 

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