Last year, the first high seas mission (new window) was announced, using a chartered boat. Fisheries officers were able to board foreign vessels based on the North Pacific Fisheries Commission's High Seas Boarding and Inspection Act. Fisheries officers inspect and document evidence after finding a haul of illegal shark fins during a high seas boarding and inspection in September 2023. There's approximately 40 million square kilometres of high seas where these vessels can fish, and only a handful of patrol vessels will ever go out there in a year, he said. He describes the new North Pacific patrol as groundbreaking, adding that it keeps eyes on remote zones of the high seas close to Russia.
