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volved in law enforcement and search and rescue. The buoy tender and aids to navi- 

 gation team service many of the fixed and floating navigation aids which facilitate 

 safe navigation throughout Southeast Alaska. 



To assist us in performing our various missions, the Seventeenth District makes 

 available to us on virtually a daily basis the HH-60J Jayhawk helicopters assigned 

 to Coast Guard Air Station Sitka. For large and complex law enforcement operations 

 such as halibut and black cod fisheries openings, we are also given temporary oper- 

 ational control of one or more seagoing buoy tenders (WLBs) and, occasionally, HC- 

 130 Hercules aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak or HU-25 Guardian air- 

 craft from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria, Oregon. 



As Rear Admiral Rufe has told you, the Seventeenth Coast Guard District is firm- 

 ly committed to providing the law enforcement presence necessary to enforce regula- 

 tions designed to conserve and manage living marine resources in Alaskan waters. 

 As subordinate units of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District, Coast Guard Group 

 Ketchikan and its units are responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of the 

 MFCMA and other Federal laws in Southeast Alaska. We are the frontline units 

 which translate the District Commander's two areas of focus — providing enforce- 

 ment to support fishery management goals and the safety of our fishermen — into 

 a continuous program of public education, voluntary dockside examinations, inport 

 and at-sea boardings, and when necessary, appropriate enforcement action. 



Group Ketchikarvs principal MFCMA-related law enforcement activities can be di- 

 vided into three general areas: (1) enforcement of the international maritime bound- 

 ary with Canada in Dixon Entrance; (2) enforcement of Federal halibut and black 

 cod fisheries openings; and (3) general boardings of fishing vessels to ensure compli- 

 ance with applicable Federal laws, such as the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel 

 Safety Act (CFIVSA). In support of the District Commander's focus on the safety 

 of fishermen, Group units also participate in the voluntary dockside fishing vessel 

 safety examination program, both directly and by providing transportation and lo- 

 gistics support to Coast Guard Marine Safety Office Juneau, which has primary re- 

 sponsibility for CFIVSA programs in Southeast Alaska. 



Group Ketchikan's operations to prevent foreign fishing vessel incursions into 

 U.S. waters north of the A-B Line in Dixon Entrance are notable exceptions to our 

 otherwise exclusively domestic fisheries enforcement activities. Approximately 500 

 Canadian fishing vessels fish in the Dixon Entrance area at one time or another 

 between mid-June and mid-August. In the recent past, a number of Canadian ves- 

 sels have ventured across the A-B Line to fish in undisputed U.S. waters, prompting 

 us to establish an annual Dixon Entrance fisheries enforcement patrol. 



The maritime boundary between the United States and Canada in Dixon En- 

 trance has long been the subject of a complex and often bitter dispute. In accordance 

 with generally accepted principles of international law, the United States claims a 

 line equidistant between the base lines of the two countries as the proper maritime 

 boundary for fisheries purposes. Canada claims the A-B Line, a line which was 

 drawn by the International Arbitration Panel of 1903. Canada claims that the A- 

 B Line was intended to establish the maritime boundary between the two countries, 

 not simply to apportion land territory as the United States asserts. With one small 

 exception, the A-B Line is considerably north of the equidistant line, creating an 

 area between the two lines which is claimed by both nations and which is known 

 as the "disputed area." 



The United States and Canada have exchanged letters in which they have agreed 

 to flag state enforcement within the disputed area. This, in theory, would allow each 

 country's fishermen to fish the disputed area without interference from the enforce- 

 ment agencies of the other country. However, Canada has subsequently asserted 

 that flag state enforcement applies only to traditional fisheries within the disputed 

 area. Since Canada does not recognize any of the current U.S. fisheries in the dis- 

 puted area as traditional, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) en- 

 forcement personnel assert that U.S. vessels fishing in the disputed area are fishing 

 in the "internal waters of Canada" in violation of Canadian law. DFO enforcement 

 vessels routinely direct U.S. vessels to cease fishing in the disputed area and to pro- 

 ceed north of the A-B Line, threatening enforcement action in the event of non- 

 compliance. Thus far, their "enforcement" efforts have been limited to verbal 

 warnings. Some U.S. fishermen, wanting to avoid the indeterminate consequences 

 of disobeying the Canadian enforcement personnel, have complied with their de- 

 mands. 



In view of the unique situation created by the ongoing boundary dispute, Group 

 Ketchikan's current fisheries enforcement effort in Dixon Entrance consists of three 

 major elements: (1) ensuring that Canadian vessels do not fish in undisputed U.S. 

 waters north of the A-B Line in violation of the MFCMA; (2) asserting and protect- 

 ing the right of U.S. fishermen to fish in the disputed area free from interference 



