Re:The mice that roared: how eight tiny countries took on fo...
by ethbr0 on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @09:24AM
(#27528255)
Having satellite coverage, especially wide field-of-view naval reconnaissance types, would seem more valuable than brute force and numbers.
Especially since I believe fishing fleets have centralized utility boats? Impound a processing & refrigeration ship... and what's the rest of the fleet going to do?
[Edit] US example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Ocean_Surveillance_Sys...
Also, apparently the ex-Soviet radar version with the brilliant idea of boosting their nuclear reactors into a higher orbit at EOL: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-A
Re:The mice that roared: how eight tiny countries took on fo...
by sithadmin on Wednesday June 16, 2021 @11:17AM
(#27529478)
Fishing fleet support vessels and factory/processing ships tend to stay in international waters, outside the reach of any particular nation's coast guard or naval forces. Many such vessels rarely, if ever, visit a port to avoid actions like boarding and seizure. And when they do, they try to dock at a port in a jurisdiction that's unlikely (or expressly made it clear) they aren't going to take any sort of police action against the vessel and its crew.
While these vessels are out in international waters, one can't simply board/seize/sink such vessels without causing a major diplomatic incident with economic consequences at best. At worst, it would be perceived as an act of war and invite military response.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea_Defence_Force...: According to Janes the navy is badly underfunded and much of its equipment is in need of maintenance; as a consequence it is scarcely able to carry out its tasks, with operations often delayed or cancelled. The navy's patrol craft are barely effective; fuel costs and maintenance problems mean that often only one boat is available for sea duty at any time, while the heavy landing craft have high upkeep costs and are nearing the end of their service life. Although the patrol boats may be at times serviceable, the task of patrolling such a large Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is too great and they are heavily reliant for information about the presence of foreign ships on daily reports supplied by US satellite surveillance. The main concern is illegal tuna fishing by Japanese vessels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands#Military: the country has not had any regular military forces since independence. The various paramilitary elements of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) were disbanded and disarmed in 2003 following the intervention of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). RAMSI has a small military detachment headed by an Australian commander with responsibilities for assisting the police element of RAMSI in internal and external security. The RSIPF still operates two Pacific class patrol boats (RSIPV Auki and RSIPV Lata), which constitute the de facto navy of Solomon Islands.
I suspect the other countries have similar military power.