NZDF: 23 ships inspected in multinational maritime patrols

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has inspected 23 foreign-flagged fishing vessels on the high seas as part of joint maritime patrols it conducted recently with three other countries.

Offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Otago and a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion aircraft supported the maritime surveillance operation with the three other member-countries of the Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group (QUAD) – Australia, France and the United States.

In this year’s operation, fishing vessels were inspected on the seas surrounding New Zealand’s northern Exclusive Economic Zone boundaries.

“The four countries working together on this monitoring, control and surveillance operation reflect the regional solidarity to sustainable high-seas fishing,” Major General Tim Gall, the Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, said.

The vessels were inspected by an inter-agency team that included authorized inspectors from New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries and the United States Coast Guard.

As explained, the key objective of the operation was to better understand fishing practices and ensure compliance with the Convention on the Conservation and Management of the Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean and the conservation and management measures adopted by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

Lieutenant Commander Lorna Gray said the involvement of an authorized inspector from the United States maximized the use of WCPFC-trained inspectors and enhanced the effectiveness of the WCPFC boarding and inspection procedures, so it was a big boost to have a United States Coast Guard authorized inspector who could speak five languages on board.

“This year’s operation was an opportunity to further develop information sharing and provide a coordinated approach to high-seas boarding and inspections with our QUAD partners,” Gray said.

In a separate statement, NZDF said it will begin repatriating two Royal New Zealand Navy sailors buried in England next week. This is the third tranche of project Te Auraki (The Return), under which the NZDF is bringing home personnel and dependants buried overseas after January 1955, following a change in government policy.