The North Pacific Coast Guard Forum (NPCGF) was initiated by the

Japan Coast Guard The is the coast guard of Japan. The Japan Coast Guard consists of about 13,700 personnel and is responsible for the protection of the coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Th ...

in 2000 as a venue to foster multilateral cooperation through the sharing of information on matters related to combined operations, exchange of information, illegal drug trafficking,

maritime security Maritime security is an umbrella term informed to classify issues in the Maritime transport, maritime domain that are often related to national security, marine environment, economic development, and human security. This includes the world's ocean ...

, fisheries enforcement, illegal migration, and

maritime domain awareness Maritime domain awareness (MDA) is defined by the International Maritime Organization as the effective understanding of anything associated with the maritime domain that could impact the security, safety, economy, or environment. MDA is said to w ...

. The current membership includes agencies from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The first Forum was held in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in 2000 and has followed an alternating semi-annual cycle of technical experts and principals meetings since. Between 2000 and 2005, meetings were sponsored by

and

. The forum has had success in documenting best practices from the member countries in areas of illegal drug trafficking, maritime security, fisheries enforcement and illegal migration, has a web-based information exchange system, and has published a manual for combined operations.

Continued work

The cooperation fostered in the forum was successfully tested during a tabletop exercise in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada in March 2004 involving the tracking of a fictitious vessel suspected of carrying

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

as it transited the

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...

off each member country’s coast. 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.{{cite web , url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/12/09/2003339768 , title=Joint Operations 2006 , publisher=Taipei Times , access-date=2018-03-01 Member nations noted the success of the 2005 combined operations and have continued them in recent years.

Role model

The success of the NPHCGAF encouraged the United States to take the lead on establishing a similar forum for north

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

countries. In 2005 and 2006 the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...

worked with dozens of European countries and

to advance the idea and in August 2007 a plenary session will be held in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

to finalize the details of that organization.

8th North Pacific Coast Guard Forum Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia

Statement by Admiral Thad Allen, USCG: “I enjoyed joining with leaders of civil maritime agencies from Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia for the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum this week in St. Petersburg, Russia. The North Pacific Coast Guard Forum provides a great opportunity to foster multilateral cooperation by sharing information and expertise on matters related to combined maritime operations, illegal drug trafficking, maritime security, fisheries enforcement, and illegal migration. As a multi-mission maritime agency, the U.S. Coast Guard is uniquely positioned to engage our maritime partners in these areas of common concern. 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. Our chief goal in St. Petersburg has been to exchange information necessary to improve the security and safety of vessels at sea and coastal nations in the region. 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. “The NPCGF reached a milestone in 2005 when vessels from the U.S. Coast Guard, China, Russia and Japan conducted combined operations at sea. This year’s forum will build on that success and address a broad range of maritime issues. Drawing on the success of the NPCGF, civil maritime agencies for nations of the North Atlantic will meet in Sweden in October 2007 to inaugurate the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum.”

References

Japan Coast Guard Coast guards International law enforcement organizations