Among areas where the US Coast Guard is stretched thin is District 14,which encompasses some 12.2 million square miles of ocean.The service is expected to carry out all of its 11 statutory missions in the District,which has two sectors,Honolulu and Guam.The District goes well south of the equator to all the Pacific Island nations of Oceania,and north to the Northern Marianas.
Rear Admiral Charles W. Ray is Commander,District 14.He said we work closely with allied nations and with all the Pacific Island nations.We are no different from the Marine Corps and the Navy in that we are held hostage by the distance and the time required to operate in the Pacific.
We think the Law of the Sea convention is very important for our nation,and especially important for the Coast Guard for multiple reasons.The Coast Guard relies upon international agreements of all sorts to do our duty.We do law enforcement,search and rescue,and all the other things we do based on either bilateral or multinational agreements.All these are based on international law,which has its framework from the Law of the Sea.
When we get to these sticking points,with contested fishing rights,contested continental shelf up in the Arctic,we don't have much of a leg to stand on if we're not party to the main agreement everybody else in the world agrees to,Admiral Ray complained.
Alone among the world powers,the US has failed to ratify the Law of the Sea convention,a fact regarded with chagrin by the State Department and all the US armed forces chiefs,as well as US multinational corporations.They feel we are at a long term competitive disadvantage because of the US Senate's inability to get the job done and approve the Law of the Sea.
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