Operation Driftnet

The Canadian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans announced on 22 February that legal action was taken against six Chinese fishing vessels sighted using illegal high-seas driftnets in the North Pacific Ocean in September 2007. This action is a result of Operation Driftnet where Canadian fishery officers scan more than 1.5 million square miles of the North Pacific each year and go beyond the Canadian 200-mile territorial limit. Canada is joined by its counterparts from the US National Marine Fisheries Service. The flights are conducted using Canada’s Air Force CP-140 aircraft, a P-3 Orion variant. High-seas driftnets, which are illegal in the North Pacific Ocean, are highly destructive to Pacific salmon and to other marine resources.