August 11, 2026 — Enforcement officers have finished their deployment with Operation North Pacific Guard, the annual multinational patrol that polices illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in international waters of the North Pacific.
Officers from NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement patrolled more than 8,000 nautical miles aboard the Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier, sailing with fishery officers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the Canadian Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Fisheries Agency of Japan. Working under authorities granted by international law, the crew conducted dozens of boardings and inspections of foreign fishing vessels and documented violations of conservation and management measures including shark finning, possession of endangered species and failure to accurately report catch, according to NOAA.
Suspected violations were referred confidentially to the flag states of the vessels involved and to the relevant regional fisheries management organizations for investigation. Under RFMO procedures, flag states handle the investigations and any penalties; sanctions can be reviewed by the RFMOs and, for the most serious cases, can include a complete ban on fishing.
“The dedication of our officers ensures that sustainable fishing practices are upheld on a global scale,” said Benjamin Cheeseman, assistant director of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, Alaska Division. “Their work on the high seas directly protects the integrity of the oceans and the livelihoods of honest fishermen back home.”
NOAA did not release a violation count. DFO, which led the shipboard patrol, said in its own Aug. 6 announcement that the integrated crew aboard the Sir Wilfrid Laurier monitored several hundred fishing vessels, conducted 30 high-seas inspections and interacted with more than 500 crew members over roughly two months, turning up 52 potential violations. Those included shark finning and the use of prohibited gear to take sharks, misreporting of catch, bycatch and discards — including prohibited species — and multiple failures to use seabird protection measures while setting gear.