Lead and Line - naval officers' association of vancouver island

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Lead and Line
When we look at ocean management, people tend to think solely of ships — surface-based assets — as the only
vehicle for providing an ocean management capability. On a warming planet, and in the vast melting Arctic, we
need to rethink some of these ocean management concepts. Aviators are mariners too. Maritime Air works, is cost
effective and provides a highly effective and flexible response in an integrated functional approach to Canada‘s
ocean management which is shared by a number of federal departments. The data collected can be shared with a
wide variety of end users in real time for various purposes and uses. Canada has had long history of using aircraft
for ocean management generally and on the West Coast in particular.
Canada is seen as a world leader in the development of using Maritime Air as an enforcement and ocean
management tool supported by international law. This commercial activity, service delivery of Maritime Air in
support of the Government of Canada, has many economic spinoffs domestically and as an awesome export
opportunity for Canada. It links trade with ocean management expertise. PAL with other Canadian companies
recently signed a $400 million contract for providing two Dash 8 Q300 maritime surveillance aircraft and
supporting systems for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It is important to realize that much of the value of the shipbuilding contracts that make up the National
Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) will involve the government vessels using a variety of air and spacebased
sensors to fuse the sensor data for a specific purpose. In many respects, the computer and data management
systems on these vessels greatly exceed the cost of the propulsion system and the construction of the hulls
combined. This data fusion and integration of various space, surface and air assets data is seen as an integral part
of the use of government vessels engaged in modern ocean management and will become more important in a
rapidly changing and warming world.
Maritime Air developed during World War II in the hunt for German U-boats in the North Atlantic. The RCAF
developed techniques using acoustical sensors and primitive radar for detecting surfaced U-boats. The RCAF
Eastern Command was an integral part of the Battle of the Atlantic. On the West Coast, the RCAF operated
seaplanes to detect Japanese submarines. To this day, an experienced aviator‘s Mark 1 eyeball remains an excellent
sensor. During the Cold War, Canada pioneered the use of large helicopters from destroyer escorts for antisubmarine
warfare. Fixed wing long range aircraft played an important part as the recently declassified Cuban
missile crisis records show. Many commentators from other NATO countries during the Cold War held that
Canada was one of the world‘s best sub hunters. In this writer‘s opinion, the Canadian Navy remains at the leading
edge of anti-submarine warfare which utilizes a variety of subsurface, surface and air assets.
As the Cold War ended, the skills developed while hunting Soviet nuclear submarines from both fixed and rotary
wing aircraft began to be applied to other ocean management functions. Prior to 1977, Canada‘s territorial sea
extended 12 miles and foreign fishing fleets operated in sight of land. After 1977, Canada declared a Fishing Zone
out to 200 nautical miles which eventually morphed into the EEZ when Canada ratified the Law of the Sea
Convention in November 1993. This increased ocean space required a fisheries monitoring and enforcement
capability that was originally undertaken by the Canadian Forces CP- 121 Tracker aircraft squadrons originally
tasked with anti-submarine warfare from the RCN‘s aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure and then air fields. The
Trackers were eventually retired starting in the 1970s. The Tracker loss in 1990 left a gap in Canada‘s Maritime
Air capability which was filled by the private sector. PAL started undertaking aerial surveillance fisheries patrols
for Fisheries and Oceans Canada on the East Coast off the highly biologically rich Grand Banks which extends
past Canada‘s 200 mile limit.
This led PAL to develop a long-standing relationship with the Government of Canada to use private sector air
assets with a variety of sensors and DFO enforcement personnel on board to develop a cost-effective solution to
fisheries enforcement in a very harsh ocean environment operating far offshore. PAL utilized the King Air 200
twin-engine aircraft which is well suited to this work and has served the test of time to the present day.
Canada‘s West Coast stretches from the 49th parallel to the AB line at Dixon Entrance and in that intervening
shoreline is 27,000 kilometres of mountainous coastline with 6,000 islands — most of which are uninhabited. The
North to South distance is 900 kilometres. Servicing the maritime navigational infrastructure and aids to navigation
on the West Coast is done by the Canadian Coast Guard Pacific Region who maintains a fleet of eight helicopters
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