{"id":363284,"date":"2022-03-02T06:00:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T20:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=363284"},"modified":"2022-03-02T06:00:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T20:00:29","slug":"uscg-patrols-eez-in-partnership-with-samoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/uscg-patrols-eez-in-partnership-with-samoa\/","title":{"rendered":"USCG patrols EEZ in partnership with Samoa"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU<\/strong>\u2014Working with the government of Samoa, crews from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Juniper (WLB 201) and USCGC Joseph Gerczak (WPC 1126) conducted security patrol operations in Samoa\u2019s exclusive economic zone throughout February to protect fisheries and other natural resources.<\/p>\n

The Juniper and Joseph Gerczak crews helped fill the operational presence needed to deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing while Samoa\u2019s Nafanua II patrol boat is down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always look forward to assisting our partners in the region,\u201d said Cmdr. Jeff Bryant, the 14th District\u2019s chief of enforcement. \u201cThe United States offered to assist the government of Samoa by providing security and sovereignty operations in Samoan waters due to the absence of their patrol boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cutters have been underway in Oceania supporting Operation Aiga, designed to integrate Coast Guard capabilities and operations with the United States\u2019 Pacific Island Country partners in order to effectively and efficiently protect shared national interests, combat IUU fishing and strengthen maritime governance on the high seas.<\/p>\n

As a trusted partner in the Pacific, the Coast Guard employs 11 bilateral shiprider agreements with Pacific Island Forum nations, like Samoa, to support resource security and fisheries enforcement. These agreements enabled the Coast Guard to aid host-nation sovereignty while patrolling Samoa\u2019s EEZ.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Coast Guard and the government of Samoa have a history of partnership. In 2019, the Coast Guard cutters Walnut and Joseph Gerczak visited Apia Harbor and conducted patrol operations with officials from Samoa\u2019s Ministry of Police and Ministry of Fisheries on board. In 2021, the crew of the CGC Oliver Berry conducted similar patrols while Samoa\u2019s patrol boat underwent repairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOperation Aiga is named that for a reason. Aiga means family in Samoan and that\u2019s how we view our Pacific neighbors,\u201d said U.S. Ambassador to Samoa Tom Udall. \u201cThis is real partnership. Together we can stop those who seek to steal valuable resources that simply don\u2019t belong to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a population of approximately 40 million people covering an area of 3.3 million square miles, the Coast Guard and its international partners regularly patrol Oceania to protect and support those who call it home. (USCG)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU\u2014Working with the government of Samoa, crews from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Juniper (WLB…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":363287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[347,367,719],"class_list":["post-363284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-eez","tag-honolulu","tag-uscg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}