The Canadian Coast Guard’s Sir Wilfrid Laurier ship has made its safe return to Victoria, marking the conclusion of a year’s mission uncovering illegal ocean activity.
The high-endurance vessel traversed 20,000 kilometres of the North Pacific Ocean, finding illegally harvested shark fins, unreported catch, evidence of fishing during a closed season and numerous cases of marine pollution, the Canadian Coast Guard said in a statement.
Fishery officers also came across several ships with their monitoring systems switched off, often referred to as “dark vessels,” the coast guard said.
Dubbed Operation North Pacific Guard, the mission is an annual endeavour led by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to detect illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in North Pacific waters.
In place to protect global fish populations, the multinational project enlists the help of officers from the United States Coast Guard and the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The annual mission combines …