Canada eyes joint coast guard patrols with more Asian partners, envoy says

Following the Canadian Coast Guard’s first-ever port call in Japan, Ottawa is now in talks with regional partners to explore joint patrol missions as far away as the Philippines, according to Canada’s envoy to Tokyo.

“I think the new resources we have committed to this particular initiative (to tackle IUU — illegal, unreported and unregulated — fishing in the Pacific) help us increase what we’re doing in Japan, but also work with partners to go a little bit deeper into the region,” Ambassador Ian McKay, who is also Canada’s Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific, told The Japan Times during a recent interview.

“The fact that we just had a coast guard ship in Japan to complement the work that our (fisheries surveillance) aircraft has been doing, allows us to invite partners to ride with us and to do joint missions, maybe as far away as the Philippines, because it’s a big issue there as well,” he noted, adding that the plans are part of a broader strategy aimed at expanding Canada’s footprint in the Indo-Pacific.