VICTORIA — The Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier is back in its home port in Victoria after its crew swept the North Pacific for unreported and unregulated fishing.
The coast guard says in a statement that its officers and support personnel found illegally harvested shark fins, evidence of fishing in closed season, unreported catches and instances of marine pollution.
It says the ship patrolled about 20,000 kilometres and it was the first opportunity to enforce the new ban on Pacific salmon retention, which has been in force for the North Pacific since July.
The statement says it also encountered a number of ships with their monitoring systems turned off, commonly known as dark vessels.
The excursion marked the first port visit of a Canadian Coast Guard vessel to Japan and Canada's daily aerial surveillance this summer out of Hokkaido, Japan, was also the first joint air patrols with officers from Japan and Korea.
The coast guard says unreported and unregulated fishing is a major factor in declining fish stocks and the destruction of marine ecosystems.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.
The Canadian Press
