On Tuesday, the Director of the National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office (NMIO), Rear Admiral Mike Studeman, joined partners from the U.S. and abroad at the first high-level Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) intergovernmental consultation at the Wilson Center in Washington. Senior officials representing the U.S., Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama discussed multilateral cooperation to enhance marine protection and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the corridor.
“IUU fishing is an urgent, global problem that threatens the livelihoods and prosperity of many nations around the world," said Studeman. "Chinese state-subsidized distant water fishing fleets, in particular, continue to massively deplete fish stocks in other nation’s exclusive economic zones. I am pleased to represent NMIO with many other national and international partners as we develop shared solutions that instill strong, lasting maritime governance and sustainability of vital ecosystems.”
CMAR, established in 2004 and subsequently elevated by the Presidents of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama in 2021 at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), is an initiative to link several existing marine protected areas and create an uninterrupted, sustainably managed biological corridor spanning more than 500,000 square kilometers. In June 2022, the U.S. signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CMAR foreign ministers at the Summit of the Americas, codifying the resolve to protect the biodiversity of the region. NMIO supports this effort by integrating maritime intelligence, improving information sharing, and fostering domain awareness among the U.S. and its CMAR partners in the global maritime domain.
The opening remarks at the event were delivered by Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the U.S. Department of State, and can be found here: https://www.state.gov/opening-remarks-to-the-first-high-level-intergovernmental-consultation-on-multilateral-cooperation-to-enhance-marine-protection/
Date Taken: | 10.07.2022 |
Date Posted: | 10.07.2022 09:17 |
Story ID: | 430929 |
Location: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
Web Views: | 156 |
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