Category Archives: Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA)

USINDOPACOM Exercises & Engagements

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INDOPACOM Defense Forum Special Features has a post that includes the map above that shows where “Exercise, Joint Combined Exchange or Training Teams” are located.

On the linked post, you can hover over the dots, and it will list activities in that location. Coast Guard is associated with dots identified as Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guam, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. It should have included the Marshall Islands as well. All these are also associated with Operation Blue Pacific.

Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are Compact of Free Association states. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are US territory.

The same post also has a different map that shows the location of DOD units normally located in the AOR (area of operations) that may be of interest.

Coast Guard in Oceania in the News

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The USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) crew arrives in Manus, Papua New Guinea, on Aug. 14, 2022, from Guam as part of a patrol headed south to assist partner nations in upholding and asserting their sovereignty while protecting U.S. national interests. The U.S. Coast Guard is participating with partners to support the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency-led Operation Island Chief and the larger Operation Blue Pacific through patrols in the Western Pacific in August and September 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by SW3 Victor Villanueva, NMCB-FOUR)

A couple of recent articles about the US relations with Palau and Papua New Guinea.

Map of the exclusive economic zones in the Pacific.

There has long been interest in a US base on Manus, Papua New Guinea, but this is politically sensitive. Basing cutters there that protect an important economic resource and occasionally rescue the locals when they get in trouble, would probably be most welcome.

On the map above, Manus and Guam do not look that far apart, but Manus is 1,737.88 km (938 nautical miles) SSE of Guam. That is about the distance from Miami to New York City. 

Cutters based in Manus would be closer to parts Freely Associated States (FAS) of Palau and Federated States of Micronesia than cutters based in Guam and much closer to most non-FAS Micronesian nations. It might also be a good place to site a fixed wing forward operating base (CGAS Honolulu DET).

I am beginning to think we will see two new bases in the Western Pacific, one in American Samoa and one in Manus.

If we do end up with additional Webber class based outside Hawaii and Guam, we might need a squadron support organization similar to, and perhaps even larger than, PATFORSWA, to support all FRCs based in the Pacific South and West of Hawaii, e.g. a PATFORSWPAC.

“Coast Guard, Partners Complete Cooperative Pacific Surveillance Operation” –Seapower

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The Coast Guard Cutter William Hart participates in the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency’s (FFA) Operation Kurukuru off American Samoa, Oct. 29, 2021.
Operation Kurukuru is an annual coordinated maritime surveillance operation with the goal of combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Cutter William Hart/Released)

Seapower magazine has a report on the recently completed, 12 day, Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency’s (FFA) Operation Kurukuru in the Pacific, intended to counter Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

“The operation included 15 Guardian Class and Pacific Patrol Boats from Pacific nations operating alongside five Australian Navy, French Navy and United States Coast Guard vessels,” said Allan Rahari, the FFA Director Fisheries Operations. “Seven aircraft from the FFA, quadrilateral and regional partners provided air surveillance, as well as satellite surveillance and use of other emerging technologies.”

US Coast Guard participants include two Webber class WPCs, USCGC William Hart, operating out Hawaii, and  USCGC Myrtle Hazard, operating out of Guam, and a CGAS Barbers Point C-130.

The Pacific class patrol boats and their Guardian class replacements were donated by Australia help Pacific Island nations police their Exclusive Economic Zones.

Panorama of three Guardian class patrol boats at Austal shipyards in Henderson, Western Australia. The ships are, from left to right, the Teanoai II (301)‎, the PSS Remeliik II‎ and the VOEA Ngahau Siliva (P302). Photo by Calistemon via Wikipedia.

“The Pacific Islands Forum‘s Forum Fisheries Agency maintains a Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre in Honiara, Solomon Islands.”