Homeland 

Security 

Maritime Law Enforcement 

Assessment 

December 9, 2020 

Fiscal Year 2020 Report to Congress 

United States Coast Guard 
I am pleased to present the following report, "Maritime Law Enforcement 

Assessment," which has been prepared by the U.S. Coast Guard. 

Senate Report 116-125 accompanying the Fiscal Year 2020 Department 

of Homeland Security Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-93) directs the Coast 

Guard to provide an assessment of the Coast Guard's ability to conduct 

maritime law enforcement activities on the high seas in support of 

international partners. 

Pursuant to congressional requirements, this report is being provided to 

the following Members of Congress: 

The Honorable Lucille Roybal-Allard 

Chairwoman, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security 

The Honorable Chuck Fleischmann 

Ranking Member, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security 

The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito 

Chairman, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security 

The Honorable Jon Tester 

Ranking Member, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security 

I am happy to answer any further questions that you may have, or your staff may contact my 

Senate Liaison Office at (202) 224-2913 or House Liaison Office at (202) 225-4775. 

Sincerely, 

Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard 

Commandant 

December 9, 2020
Maritime Law Enforcement Assessment 

Table of Contents 

I. Legislative Language.......................................................................................................... 1 

II. The Maritime Law Enforcement Program.......................................................................... 2 

A. Counter-Drug Mission .................................................................................................. 2 

B. Alien and Migrant Interdiction Operations (AMIO) .................................................... 5 

C. Combatting Human Trafficking.................................................................................... 7 

D. Other Law Enforcement – International Fisheries and U.S. EEZ Protection............... 8 

III. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 11 

Appendix: List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................ 12 

ii 
I. Legislative Language 

This document responds to direction in Senate Report 116-125 accompanying the Fiscal Year 

(FY) 2020 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-93). 

Senate Report 116-125 states: 

Maritime Law Enforcement.—The Coast Guard shall report to the Committee 

within 180 days of the enactment of this act with an assessment of the Coast 

Guard’s ability to conduct maritime law enforcement activities on the high seas in 

support of international partners. Specifically, the assessment should address the 

following elements of the Coast Guard’s current capabilities, capacity, and legal 

authority to conduct maritime law enforcement activities outside of United States 

territorial waters: human trafficking; forced labor; illegal, unreported, or 

unregulated fishing; and other illicit activity at sea. The report should detail: 

technical coordination with partner nations, non-governmental organizations, and 

the U.S. Navy to improve tracking and detection of vessels engaged in such 

activities; Coast Guard requirements, including material, personnel, logistic, and 

administrative requirements, for support from the U.S. Navy (either direct support 

requests, or through Geographic Combatant Commanders and the Global Force 

Management process) and partner nations, specifying any unmet resource demands; 

any limiting factors that constrain the Coast Guard’s ability to fully resource this 

mission, including legal authorities; and legislative proposals for mitigating these 

limitations. 

1 
II. The Maritime Law Enforcement Program 

The Coast Guard’s Maritime Law Enforcement program protects America’s maritime borders 

from encroachment, defends U.S. maritime sovereignty from illicit activity, facilitates legitimate 

use of the waterways, and suppresses violations of federal law on, under, and over the high seas 

and waters subject to U.S. jurisdiction. The Coast Guard is the lead federal maritime law 

enforcement agency and the only agency with both the authority and capability to enforce 

national and international law on the high seas, Outer Continental Shelf, and inward from the 

U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to inland waters. Coast Guard responsibilities include 

detecting and interdicting contraband and illegal drug traffic; enforcing U.S. immigration laws 

and policies at sea; enforcing U.S. fisheries and marine-protected resource laws and regulations; 

ensuring the integrity of the EEZ; monitoring compliance with international living marine 

resource regimes and international agreements to which the U.S. is party; and complying with 

international agreements to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing that 

negatively affects maritime and economic security in coastal and regional areas worldwide. 

A. Counter-Drug Mission 

The Coast Guard is the lead and only federal maritime law enforcement agency with both the 

authority and capability to enforce national and international law, including drug interdiction, on 

the high seas. The Coast Guard shares the lead for interdiction and enforcement responsibilities 

with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in U.S. territorial seas and directly collaborates 

with the Department of Defense (DOD) on its detect and monitoring counter-drug mission. 

Maritime drug flow is conveyed via noncommercial (small “go-fast” vessels with multiple 

outboard engines, semisubmersibles, fishing vessels, and sailing vessels) and commercial 

(primarily cargo ships) means. The vast majority of known maritime drug flow is conveyed via 

noncommercial means in the Western Hemisphere Transit Zone (WHTZ). 

The Coast Guard uses cutters, boats, aircraft, and intelligence in a layered approach to combat 

cartels as they transport illicit drugs from the source zone, through maritime corridors off Central 

America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and into the United States. This approach confronts the 

threat beyond our land borders on the high seas where traffickers are most exposed and drugs are 

most vulnerable to interdiction by law enforcement assets. This layered approach begins 

overseas and predominantly spans the offshore transit zones, referred to as the WHTZ, which 

includes areas off South America, Central America, and Mexico in the eastern Pacific and 

Caribbean regions. 

The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (46 U.S. Code (U.S.C.) 70501-70507) is the primary 

criminal statute that the Coast Guard enforces with the counter-drug mission. To combat the 

growing threat posed by the expanded use of semisubmersible and submersible vessels by drug 

trafficking organizations, the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act (P.L. 110–407) was 

enacted in 2008. The law includes specific findings that present a specific threat to the national 

security of the United States, which includes making it unlawful (when certain elements are met) 

for any person to knowingly operate, by any means, or embark in any submersible or 

2 
semisubmersible vessel. Both 46 U.S.C. 70501-70507 and P.L. 110-407 apply extraterritorially 

so that persons who are interdicted in a semisubmersible or submersible vessel in international 

waters may be prosecuted in the United States when the elements of the offense are met. 

In the WHTZ, the Coast Guard is the predominant, on-the-water, interdiction asset provider to 

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) through the Joint Interagency Task Force – South 

(JIATF-South), which executes the DOD statutory responsibility for the detection and 

monitoring of illicit drug trafficking in the air and maritime domains bound for the United States 

(10 U.S.C. 124). Toward this mission, the Coast Guard and its partners provide a variety of 

interdiction capabilities and assets. Two of the most effective are the fixed-wing maritime patrol 

aircraft, provided by DOD, CBP, the Coast Guard, and allied nations, coupled with sophisticated 

intelligence cueing capabilities provided through JIATF-South and other agencies, which enable 

U.S. Government and partner nation interdiction efforts. The Coast Guard’s most capable 

interdiction platforms include flight deck-equipped major cutters embarked with airborne use of 

force rotary wing capability, and pursuit-capable boats. Additionally, the Coast Guard deploys 

Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDET) on U.S. Navy (USN) and allied ships, effectively 

expanding enforcement and interdiction capacity. In addition, the Coast Guard, DOD, and CBP 

also provide detection and monitoring capabilities. 

At-sea interdictions of pure cocaine are the most effective way for the Coast Guard to limit 

cartels and other criminal networks from trafficking their entire spectrum of illicit products. 

Maximizing detection of smuggling vessels in the WHTZ will bolster Coast Guard interdiction 

efforts. 

1. U.S. Navy Support. U.S. laws, most notably the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. 1385), 

historically prohibit USN and other DOD personnel from participating directly in law 

enforcement activities unless expressly authorized by Congress. In 1981, Congress specifically 

authorized the limited use of DOD military facilities, platforms, and equipment to assist federal 

authorities in maritime drug interdiction. As an example, Coast Guard LEDETs routinely deploy 

aboard USN vessels to conduct law enforcement boardings pursuant to authority set forth in 

10 U.S.C. 379. Until 2015, USN frigates were the primary platform for deployment of Coast 

Guard LEDETs. Following the decommissioning of frigates in 2015, the Coast Guard and 

SOUTHCOM continue to seek alternate platforms for Coast Guard LEDETs to embark. Since 

2015, the USN has employed other ship classes in support of the counter-drug mission, including 

Cyclone-class coastal patrol boats, and more recently, littoral combat ships. In addition to 

surface asset support, the USN employs P-8 aircraft to bolster detection capability throughout the 

WHTZ. This class of aircraft proves to be one of the most effective detection assets in the 

region, bolstering interdiction performance for U.S. Government and partner nation surface 

assets. 

2. Partner Nation Coordination. In coordination with JIATF-South, the Coast Guard engages 

with partner nations throughout the Western Hemisphere. Their capabilities and local 

knowledge are leveraged to improve maritime governance in littoral regions that are exploited by 

transnational criminal organizations (TCO). Coast Guard personnel are assigned as attachés, 

liaisons, and drug interdiction specialists at several embassies in the Western Hemisphere. These 

personnel develop strategic relationships with partner nations that facilitate the coordination of 

3 
real-time operations, confirmation of vessel registry, waivers of jurisdiction, and disposition of 

seized vessels, contraband, and detained crews. The Coast Guard’s law enforcement, legal, and 

regulatory expertise are in high demand from Central American partners, whose navies more 

closely resemble the Coast Guard, focusing primarily on maritime law enforcement. Coast 

Guard International Training Teams, as well as Coast Guard units, deploy throughout the region 

and conduct professional exchanges, ship-rider activities, and training. They also execute 

maritime exercises coincident with port visits and patrols. 

A prime example of these initiatives is the Coast Guard’s Support to Interdiction and Prosecution 

Team program, established in 2015 through collaboration with the Department of State’s (DOS) 

Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, which consists of two Coast 

Guard Investigative Service special agents. The first program was in Panama, which provided 

maritime counter-drug and prosecutorial support, and coordination among Coast Guard strategic, 

operational, and tactical units; the U.S. Embassy Country Teams in Central America; Combatant 

Commanders; and JIATF-South. This program served as a blueprint for innovative expansion of 

Coast Guard support to partner nations, with a similar program implemented in the Dominican 

Republic in 2019. 

Further highlighting international cooperation and success, the Coast Guard leveraged the value 

of the bilateral agreements between United States and Costa Rica, and the United States and 

Guatemala, through joint ship-rider operations from December 2018 through December 2019. 

Costa Rican and Guatemalan Maritime Interdiction Units, supported by Coast Guard law 

enforcement personnel, enhanced their ability to conduct interdiction operations from their 

surface assets, including the newly acquired Costa Rican Libertadors (former Coast Guard 

110-foot patrol boats), resulting in the removal of nearly 7 metric tons of cocaine and 

apprehension of 30 suspected smugglers. More important, the invaluable operational knowledge 

and skill sets conveyed by Coast Guard law enforcement personnel, coupled with a bolstered 

surface fleet, enabled both countries to emerge as powerful force multipliers in the WHTZ. 

Similar joint operations are expected to continue in the future. 

Increased cooperation with our close Western Hemisphere partners including Colombia, Panama, 

and Costa Rica over the last few years garnered substantial results in the multinational fight 

against TCOs. In FY 2019, JIATF-South reported that partner nations contributed to 50 percent 

of interdictions in the WHTZ, the highest in the task force’s history. Furthermore, the Coast 

Guard supported Panama and Costa Rica’s prosecutorial systems to advance legal consequences, 

providing witness testimony to nearly 10 in-country trials, collectively enforcing rule of law in 

the Western Hemisphere. 

Working in conjunction with DOS and Department of Justice (DOJ), the Coast Guard negotiated, 

concluded, and maintained more than 40 counter-drug focused bilateral agreements and 

operational procedures with partner nations throughout the world, the majority of which are in 

the Western Hemisphere. These agreements enable the Coast Guard to board suspect vessels, to 

facilitate interdictions in underpatrolled territorial seas of partner nations to deter illicit activity 

in the littoral regions, and to coordinate interdiction and apprehension operations in the WHTZ. 

Highlighting their importance to Coast Guard counter-drug efforts, nearly 60 percent of all Coast 

4 
Guard interdictions in FY 2019 involved the use of a bilateral agreement or operational 

procedure. 

3. Limited Resources and Efforts to Alleviate Gaps. The Coast Guard is extremely thankful 

for Congress’s continued support of its efforts to recapitalize surface and aviation assets that 

support JIATF-South operations; these efforts will increase maritime domain awareness and 

interdiction of the illicit maritime activities in the region. This includes support of the Offshore 

Patrol Cutter program, which will replace the aging fleet of medium endurance cutters and will 

bolster sensors and command and control systems on board the Coast Guard’s medium- and 

long-range fixed-wing aircraft. The continued fielding of small-unmanned aerial systems 

(sUAS) onboard national security cutters will continue to maximize organic detection capability 

aboard the Coast Guard’s most capable surface platform. 

Recent investments in intelligence have allowed the Coast Guard to apply its limited resources 

better to document and media exploitation, biometric capabilities, and expansion of information 

sharing. These will bolster investigative efforts and intelligence cueing, which are critical to 

informing targeting efforts to maximize interdiction results. They also satisfy the need for 

continued expansion and leveraging of best practices to maximize awareness of drug 

movements, including commercial narcotic flow entering U.S. ports. 

The Coast Guard currently is battling readiness challenges that limit its ability to resource 

counter-drug operations effectively. Lost cutter days and flight hours driven by maintenance 

backlogs and parts shortages reduce the amount of assets available for counter-drug operations. 

B. Alien and Migrant Interdiction Operations (AMIO) 

Coast Guard interdictions of undocumented migrants provide effective law enforcement presence 

at sea and ensure the three main objectives: safe, legal, and orderly immigration. Coast Guard 

migrant interdiction operations also stem the flow of human smuggling and trafficking through 

maritime routes. Leveraging statutory authority, bilateral agreements, and policy, the Coast 

Guard conducts these interdictions as far from U.S. borders as possible. Doing so facilitates the 

return of migrants to their home country while further protecting them from an often perilous sea 

voyage. Strong partnerships and information sharing with other agencies, such as U.S. 

Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CBP, and 

DOS, are critical. Although the Coast Guard leads the high seas’ interdiction mission, 

partnerships with other agencies and governments are essential for carrying out timely 

disposition of interdicted migrants via repatriation and removal operations and for conducting 

further investigation and prosecution in the case of human smugglers or traffickers. 

The Coast Guard actively patrols the offshore approaches to the United States in accordance with 

Executive Orders 12807 and 13276 and leverages bilateral agreements to deter illegal, 

disorderly, and dangerous maritime migration. Under 8 U.S.C. 1324-1326, the United States has 

the ability to prosecute those who smuggle aliens or who attempt to enter the country illegally. 

Pursuant to these laws, policies, and agreements, the Coast Guard interdicts smugglers and 

migrants as far from U.S. shores as possible with the intent to repatriate the migrants to their 

5 
country of departure or origin, or alternatively, and depending on the location of interdiction, 

land them in the United States for prosecution of applicable immigration offenses. 

The Coast Guard follows the Special Interest Migrant Framework to work with interagency 

partners for providing notification, access to, and disposition of migrants intercepted at sea who 

are of potential law enforcement interest due to knowledge or involvement in criminal activities, 

or who are likely physical threats to other migrants, personnel, or facilities. The Coast Guard 

encountered migrants of 29 different nationalities in FY 2019, and this program is vital to 

continued efforts toward securing the maritime border. 

1. U.S. Navy Support. DOD and USN support is critical in the event of a large-scale or mass 

migration event. In these cases, USN assets will be used to interdict, hold, and transport 

migrants; this will include supporting the Coast Guard in transporting migrants to another 

location where DHS has elected to conduct refugee screening. During these events, USN vessels 

will be embarked with Coast Guard law enforcement personnel. During mass migration events, 

the Migrant Operations Center (MOC) provides facilities for the housing and care of 

undocumented migrants interdicted in the Caribbean region and will assume the primary 

responsibility, as necessary to contain the threat to national security, for the care, custody, safety, 

transportation, and other needs of migrants at the MOC. 

Outside of large-scale or mass migration, the USN typically does not engage in active AMIO. 

The USN continues to support the Coast Guard by hosting the MOC at Naval Station 

Guantanamo Bay. The MOC, a joint DHS and DOS facility, is used in accordance with an 

interagency agreement that allows for MOC use when some migrants with protection concerns 

are interdicted. The MOC provides a location outside of the United States to house and care for 

migrants interdicted in the Caribbean region who cannot be repatriated to their country of origin 

or who departed because of credible fear of persecution or torture. 

2. Partner Nation Coordination. Partner nations, particularly The Bahamas and Turks and 

Caicos Islands, are making significant enhancements in their interdiction capabilities and 

reporting processes. Increases in partner nation capabilities are crucial to stemming the illegal 

maritime migrant flow. Caribbean nations are seeing an increase of maritime migrants 

attempting to reach their shores, both to settle permanently and to attempt to reach the United 

States by various other means. The Coast Guard uses bilateral agreements with countries like 

The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Haiti to leverage effective partnerships in the 

AMIO mission. The Coast Guard places liaison officers in various partner nations, who directly 

engage with their host governments to encourage the effective enforcement of immigration laws 

and policies. These collaborative efforts discourage the manifestly unsafe practice of illegal 

maritime immigration. 

The Coast Guard employs repatriation agreements with the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and 

Cuba; the three most frequent nationalities interdicted in the Caribbean region. The Coast Guard 

continues to seek partnerships and agreements with other nations to expand immigration 

enforcement capabilities. New and expanded bilateral agreements will allow the Coast Guard to 

increase its ability to conduct AMIO and to remain the lead federal agency for immigration 

enforcement in the maritime environment. 

6 
3. Limited Resources and Efforts to Alleviate Gaps. The Coast Guard continues to meet its 

internal migrant interdiction goals; however, ongoing readiness challenges increase the risk of an 

inadequate response to a maritime mass migration event. Shifting flows of migrants in the 

maritime domain will remain a challenge and will continue to require a highly agile workforce to 

respond. Because of the somewhat unpredictable nature of foreign state conflict, economic and 

social factors, and impacts from future natural disasters, the Coast Guard must remain capable of 

flexing operational priorities concurrent with national security and defense concerns, while 

remaining able to interdict emergent threats across all missions. 

C. Combatting Human Trafficking 

According to an estimate by the International Labor Organization, human trafficking (which 

under the Coast Guard definition includes forced labor and sex trafficking) is a global crime that 

affects more than 25 million victims worldwide. This heinous crime occurs in affluent to 

impoverished areas in the United States and globally. The Coast Guard trains active, reserve, 

and civilian members in subtle indicators and in how to report a suspected trafficking event 

through their chain of command. These notifications most often require interagency awareness 

and decision making involving international cooperation due to the global nature of the Coast 

Guard’s missions. In 2019, more than 13,000 Coast Guard members completed the DHS Blue 

Campaign Human Trafficking Awareness Training. 

1. Partner Nation Coordination. When the Coast Guard identifies potential human trafficking 

victims, it coordinates appropriate screenings by foreign partners through international 

cooperation. The Coast Guard provided expertise in maritime law application and policy 

development related to human trafficking to The Bali Process, a 49-country coordination 

mechanism created to address regional responses to people smuggling, trafficking, and 

committing other transnational organized crime in the Indo-Asia Pacific Region. 

2. Limiting Resources and Efforts to Alleviate Gaps. Although the Coast Guard has 

identified potential victims successfully, current substantive law limits the applicability of these 

federal codes in the maritime domain. Under 18 U.S.C. Chapter 77, the application of human 

trafficking-related violations remains limited to land-based encounters and lacks extraterritorial 

jurisdiction to all perceived scenarios that the Coast Guard could encounter through its 11 

statutory mission areas. Some gaps in enforcement include non-U.S. citizens on U.S.-flagged 

vessels and events involving a U.S. citizen on foreign-flagged vessels encountered outside of 

U.S. territorial seas. Additionally, the United States lacks international agreements to pursue 

human trafficking-related events similar to counter-drug and migrant repatriation. 

Currently, the Coast Guard and other DHS, DOJ, DOS, and Department of Labor partners are 

working together to remove enforcement gaps through the President’s Action Plan, a DOJ 

working group on forced labor on fishing vessels, and in DHS’s newly released Human 

Trafficking Strategy. These efforts include the exploration of legislative change proposals to 

expand the jurisdiction of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 77 violations, creating dialogue with international 

partners to create new or to expand current bilateral agreements to include human trafficking 

provisions and international communications protocols. 

7 
The Coast Guard, through continued and future coordination, is committed to put in place policy 

and efforts toward the eradication of human trafficking not only in the maritime domain but 

throughout the globe. 

D. Other Law Enforcement – International Fisheries and U.S. EEZ 

Protection 

The Coast Guard is the only U.S. federal law enforcement agency or military service with both 

the capabilities and authorities to enforce fisheries regulations across the vast 3.4 million square 

miles of the U.S. EEZ, on the high seas, and in the EEZ and territorial seas of partner nations. 

Operations to prevent, detect, and suppress IUU fishing require persistent presence of capable 

enforcement assets and the right mix of authorities to deny vast ocean spaces to bad actors. 

IUU fishing activity is global in reach, and it adversely affects coastal communities by distorting 

competition and by jeopardizing the economic survival of those whose livelihoods depend upon 

local fisheries. Actors engaged in IUU fishing often exploit the gaps between governance 

structures and operate in areas where there is little or no effective enforcement presence. On a 

global scale, pervasive IUU fishing operations significantly distort market economies and 

represent a major loss of revenue, particularly to some of the poorest countries in the world. 

Global losses from IUU fishing are estimated to be between $10 billion and $23.5 billion (U.S.) 

per year. 

The Coast Guard operates under the statutory authority provided under the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Management and Conservation Act (16 U.S.C 1801-1891). This act, which amended the 

High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act, directs the United States to strengthen 

international fisheries management organizations and to address IUU fishing and bycatch of 

protected living marine resources. The High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act 

was amended further in 2011 by the Shark Conservation Act to improve the conservation of 

sharks domestically and internationally. 

In addition to assisting partner nations to protect their sovereignty, Coast Guard operations 

include high seas boarding and inspections (HSBI) conducted under the authority of Regional 

Fishery Management Organizations (RFMO), the primary mechanism of fisheries management 

on the high seas. RFMOs are international regulatory bodies comprising countries with a 

common interest in the management of fisheries resources in a geographic area. The members 

may be coastal nations bordering the region or countries that have a fishing interest in the region. 

Existing and emerging RFMOs cover more than 95 percent of the world’s oceans. Currently, a 

small percentage of RFMOs include HSBI regimes as part of the governing convention. 

Solidified under the recently passed Maritime SAFE Act, which is contained within the National 

Defense Authorization Act of 2020, the Coast Guard supports a whole-of-government approach 

to improve governance, capacity building, anticorruption efforts, and criminal justice reforms in 

partner nations affected by IUU fishing. In addition to at-sea enforcement operations, the Coast 

Guard supports U.S. Agency for International Development, DOS, and the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration capacity-building efforts in partner nations by providing advice and 

technical support. 

8 
1. U.S. Navy Support. Operations to deter, detect, and disrupt IUU fishing require a dedicated 

surface presence that the Coast Guard alone cannot provide at the levels needed. To mitigate 

these challenges, the Coast Guard collaborates with the USN and Indo-Pacific Command to 

enhance maritime domain awareness and to assist Pacific Island nations in exercising 

sovereignty over their resources by merging Coast Guard authorities with DOD resources 

through the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative (OMSI). Coast Guard LEDETs embark USN 

platforms transiting high-threat IUU fishing areas, along with Pacific Island nation ship riders, to 

conduct boardings of opportunity along the USN asset’s transit route. OMSI enables the Coast 

Guard and the USN to monitor and deter IUU fishing in the Western and Central Pacific and to 

provide presence for maritime surveillance and security in the region. Similar operations are 

conducted with United States Africa Command to thwart IUU fishing along the coast of West 

Africa. 

2. Partner Nation Coordination. The Coast Guard manages bilateral agreements with partner 

nations that share a common interest with the United States to protect the oceans and living 

marine resources. Coast Guard presence, combined with the authorities of its partners, promotes 

regional stabilization, maritime stewardship, resource conservation, and safety by promoting the 

rule of law at sea. These agreements allow the Coast Guard to support partner nations’ organic 

enforcement capabilities by training personnel and by providing operational platforms from 

which nations with limited resources may exert their sovereignty. U.S. Coast Guard operations 

across the world’s oceans, in partnership with remote Pacific Island nations in the Western 

Pacific Ocean and nations along the Atlantic West Coast of Africa, promote optimal 

management and protection of vital living marine resources and their environments. 

The Coast Guard supports the United States Africa Command’s African Maritime Law 

Enforcement Partnership (AMLEP), as part of the Africa Partnership Station, which enables 

partner nations to build maritime security capacity and to improve management of their maritime 

environment through real-world, combined maritime law enforcement operations. Many African 

coastal nations rely on fishing as food and as a significant contributor of revenue and jobs to 

local economies. IUU fishing, along with the other illicit activities that take place in African 

waters, negatively affect the nations’ economies and directly contribute to instability throughout 

the Gulf of Guinea region. Although AMLEP, through Operation Junction Rain, can target a 

broad range of illicit maritime activity, combatting IUU fishing is a predominant role. AMLEP 

includes a host nation and Coast Guard law enforcement boarding teams operating from a U.S. 

or partner nation’s maritime asset. During this operation, the U.S. teams will act in an 

accompany, advise, and assist role to the host nation’s teams while conducting at-sea boardings. 

These exercises consist of identifying a target of interest (i.e., a suspect vessel fishing within the 

partner nation’s EEZ), employing small boats with teams aboard, directing the suspect vessel to 

stop, and embarking the vessel to inspect. During this inspection, the host nation teams will 

review documentation, search for suspected illicit activity, and enforce maritime law pertaining 

to the respective host nation’s authorities and jurisdiction. 

3. Limited Resources and Efforts to Alleviate Gaps. Countering IUU fishing is an assetintensive operation, requiring Coast Guard cutters, USN vessels, and partner surface assets to 

deliver boarding teams in remote areas of the world’s oceans. For this reason, the Coast Guard 

feels a greater impact from readiness challenges and will benefit from ongoing recapitalization 

9 
efforts, including the Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter program, which will replace the 

aging fleet of medium endurance cutters, and the fielding of sUASs onboard Coast Guard’s 

National Security Cutters. Fielding of sUASs will maximize organic detection capability aboard 

the Coast Guard’s most capable cutter platform. 

The Coast Guard supports Congress’s enactment of the Maritime SAFE Act, which provides the 

needed structure to shape the whole-of-government approach to counter IUU fishing. The act 

will help to capitalize on the broad capabilities and authorities available across the government to 

address the complex nature of international fisheries enforcement. 

10 
III. Conclusion 

The Coast Guard’s maritime law enforcement activities represent some of the most challenging 

and complex missions across the Coast Guard’s responsibilities. The Coast Guard represents the 

Nation’s premiere maritime law enforcement capability and is regarded as the global leader in 

maritime law enforcement expertise. The Coast Guard leverages its skill, expertise, and 

partnerships to ensure secure, safe, and sustainable use of the world’s oceans. 

Although the Coast Guard continues to explore partnerships with the USN, allies, and partner 

nations to support maritime law enforcement operations, it is hindered by readiness challenges 

and finite resources. Addressing the Coast Guard’s readiness needs, investing in modern 

technologies, and maintaining momentum on recapitalization efforts are essential to sustaining 

these operations. 

With continued support and through strategic investments, the Coast Guard will begin to rebuild 

overall Coast Guard readiness while concurrently applying improvements that specifically drive 

increased maritime law enforcement effectiveness. These efforts will lead to increased maritime 

domain awareness across all mission sets and a more reliable and effective surface and air fleet. 

The efforts also will pave the way to smarter, more strategic use of resources through 

technology-based decisions. 

11 
I I 

Appendix: List of Abbreviations 

Abbreviation Definition 

AMIO Alien and Migrant Interdiction Operations 

AMLEP African Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership 

CBP U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

DHS Department of Homeland Security 

DOD Department of Defense 

DOJ Department of Justice 

DOS Department of State 

EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone 

FY Fiscal Year 

HSBI High Seas Boarding and Inspections 

IUU Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated 

JIATF-South Joint Interagency Task Force – South 

LEDET Law Enforcement Detachment 

MOC Migrant Operations Center 

OMSI Oceania Maritime Security Initiative 

RFMO Regional Fishery Management Organizations 

SOUTHCOM United States Southern Command 

sUAS Small-Unmanned Aerial System 

TCO Transnational Criminal Organization 

U.S.C. U.S. Code 

USN U.S. Navy R

WHTZ Western Hemisphere Transit Zone 

12