devices is an illegal fishing practice in Palau waters.

The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is home to the “tuna belt” and supplies about 60 percent of the global tuna supply, worth an estimated $7 billion a year. With more than 5,600 fishing vessels registered with the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, there are serious concerns about the sustainability of straddling fish stocks. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing presents a significant threat to the multi-national fishing fleets that operate in the region.

During each fisheries patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard is protecting the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone from foreign fishing vessel encroachment, enforcing domestic living marine resources laws, and ensuring compliance with international agreements. One of these international arrangements is the WCPFC, comprised of 40 member nations, territories, andcooperating non-members that regulate fishing for highly migratory species on the high seas of the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. Within these partnerships, the Coast Guard works closely to ensure all fishing fleets are complying with the provisions of the agreement.

Sequoia is one of the vessels authorized to carry out boardings and inspections of foreign fishing vessels on the high seas under the WCPFC convention. Sequoia’s crew embarked an Australian Fisheries Management Authority shiprider for a portion of this deployment who was an asset in assessing potential WCPFC violations and also speaks Indonesian, able to converse with many of the fishing vessel crews. In addition to WCPFC, the Coast Guard executes bilateral agreements with nine Pacific island nations. These agreements, commonly known as shiprider agreements, allow enforcement authorities