Honolulu, signed an agreement on July 25, which improves law enforcement capabilities in the Cook Islands exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.
The bilateral agreement means Cook Islands law enforcement personnel may ride U.S. Coast Guard vessels in order to conduct law enforcement missions within the Cook Islands EEZ.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutters based in Honolulu and Guam frequently transit through EEZs of Pacific island nations and Brown’s 14th District encompasses the largest geographic area of responsibility in the U.S. Coast Guard. The new agreement is similar to bilateral ship rider agreements already in place between the U.S. and Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
The goal of these bilateral agreements, said Rasmussen and Brown, is to build capacity and strengthen interoperability among Pacific island countries. As the threat of illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing increases in the vast Pacific region, multilateral cooperation is essential to maintaining sustainable fishery stocks and combating transnational crime, they say.
