The cooperation fostered in the forum was successfully tested during a tabletop exercise in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in March 2004 involving the tracking of a fictitious vessel suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction as it transited the international waters off each member country’s coast.

[2] During the summer of 2005, the forum planned and executed actual at-sea combined operations were conducted to enforce Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported (IUU) Fisheries regulations in the North Pacific Ocean.

In 2005 and 2006 the US Coast Guard worked with dozens of European countries and Canada to advance the idea and in August 2007 a plenary session will be held in Sweden to finalize the details of that organization.

We are building on the successes of past forums as we work to improve mutually beneficial cooperation and coordination that will enhance maritime safety, security and environmental protection throughout the North Pacific.

We have worked to identify ways to expand day-to-day cooperation between our agencies in operations supporting fisheries management, environmental protection, search and rescue, and maritime security.