Category Archives: High Seas

Green Pulse Ep 51: Fishy business on the high seas

17:05 mins

Synopsis: The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

Across the globe, millions of people rely on fishing for jobs and income, with many fishermen finding it increasingly tough to earn a living due to shrinking catches. They have to compete not only with the impacts of climate change and industrial fishing fleets but also illegal fishing operations often controlled by powerful figures far away. This multi-billion dollar illegal industry is also linked to human slavery, tax evasion and drugs and arms smuggling.

But recently, efforts by Interpol and governments are catching up with the illegal fishing kingpins. In this episode, we speak to Mr Peter Horn, Project Director, Ending Illegal Fishing, at Pew Trusts, which works closely with Interpol to clamp down on illegal unreported and unregulated fishing.

They discuss the following points:

How the illegal fishing trade works (3:41)

Other crimes associated with illegal fishing (6:05)

How can consumers make the sustainable choice? (8:57)

Working with Interpol to stop illegal fishing (10:17)

Can the illegal fishing trade be stopped? (14:55)

Listen to Ep 49 - Can aquaculture solve the seafood seaspiracy?:https://omny.fm/shows/green-pulse-1/can-aquaculture-solve-the-seafood-se...

Read Monterey Bay Aquarium's seafood watch website:https://www.seafoodwatch.org/

Produced by: Audrey Tan (audreyt@sph.com.sg), David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg) & Ernest Luis

Edited by: Adam Azlee

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Green Pulse Podcast: Fishy business on the high seas - The Straits Times

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century is looking to head back to the high seas as sources tell Deadline the studio is developing a new Master and Commanderpic withA Monster Calls scribe Patrick Ness adapting the script. Insiders add it is still early days and no director or talent are attached at this time.

The 2004 adaptationMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World, directed by Peter Weir, was set during the Napoleonic Wars and follows Capt. Jack Aubrey, played by Russell Crowe, a brash British captain who pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America. Paul Bettany also starred in the film, which went on to make more then $200 million worldwide and received 10 Oscar nominations for including one for Best Picture.

Since the original was part of a big book series, the idea was always to adapt other books in to films, but another film never got into position to move forward. Sources say this film would be based on the first book in the series, which shows a young Aubrey when he is given his first command and also explores how his friendship with his naval surgeon, Stephen Maturin (played by Bettany in the original) begins. Since this would be set in the early days of Aubrey, its also likely they would have new talent playing Aubrey and Maturin as well.

Ness was best known for penning the bestselling book series Chaos Walking(which he also adapted into a film for Lionsgate) until he transitioned into screenwriting starting withA Monster Calls.Since then his screenwriting star power has been on the rise, having just finished an adaptation of Lord of the Fliesfor Warner Bros and Luca Guadagnino.

He is repped by CAA, literary agent Michelle Kass and attorney Behr Abramson Levy.

See the article here:

20th Century Developing New Master And Commander Movie With Patrick Ness Penning the Script - Deadline

03 Jun 2021 - 13:04

File photo used for representation only. Photo credit: Abdul Basit/ The Peninsula

Doha: Qatar Meteorology Department (QMD) warned of strong wind and high seas from Friday until Saturday. Hot weather conditions are also expected with slight dust to blowing dust at some places during daytime.

The minimum and maximum temperature will range between 33 to 46 degrees Celsius.

As the country faces hot weather conditions, QMD shared a few tips during this period such as:

- Wearing comfortable, light-colored clothes to reflect the sun's light

- Drink enough fluids

- Children not to be left alone in the car

- Workers in exposed/outdoor places should take breaks in the shade

The wind, on both days, will mainly blow northwesterly at 10-20 KT gusting 28 KT at places during daytime.

Sea heights, on Friday and Saturday, will also vary between 1-3 ft rising to 5 ft at times inshore and 3-5/6 ft rising to 7-8 ft at times offshore.

Visibility will range between 4-9 m/ 3km or less at places during daytime inshore.

Read also

03 Jun 2021 - 8:41

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced that it provided services for 2,112 plot in citizens subdivisions, through integrated infrastructure for these plots within the road and infrastructure projects implemented by Ashghal in the Northern areas and North of Al Nasiriyah.

Link:

Strong wind, high seas and hot weather during weekend: QMD - The Peninsula Qatar

But 2020 saw her locked down with her family in Midhurst.

She said: Im passionate about my work which is usually fast paced, involves travel and provokes an adrenalin rush. Suddenly I found myself stationary for a while; I was able to capture seasonal change and to transfer my artistic eye to all things equine, a subject area which I adore and yet hadnt had a lot of the time to study through a lens.

I also realised that I could, and should, bring the beauty of horses, sailing boats and the power of nature to houses and offices in the local area to invigorate and enlighten them through the power of photography.

Kos has created an exhibition in the centre of Midhurst as a launch pad for her website, which is a virtual experience to let people in West Sussex experience her images in their own home.

In the past she has photographed the Americas Cup, travelled the world with a Formula One team and sailed with Duran Durans Simon Le Bon.

She said: Simon Le Bon is a very talented man, best known for his musical career, but hes also an accomplished sailor. I was hired as his photographer to capture iconic images of him on his racing yacht, a very different environment to taking images of him on the stage.

He was about to embark on a round the world race, it was important for me to get him to go up the mast. His agents were very concerned about the dangers of taking this portrait and although it was very windy we got the iconic shot they wanted and he loved it, weve remained great friends.

Kos has been photographing boats and the sea since her teens.

She said: I have been working professionally since I was 16 years old, although I was passionate about photography from the age of six. My grandmother gave me a camera as a birthday present when I was ten and I set to work straight away. I was constantly taking unusual pictures; everyone else would admire the view on holiday whilst I captured images of the shadows of industrial pipes and linear patterns of Cyprus trees.

I was constantly experimenting and then I learned to climb with a camera that was the moment that made me my images from the top of a yachts mast suddenly set me apart from other photographers.

Her most recent exhibition is focussed on horses, something she has embraced during lockdown.

She said: I spent more time enjoying and understanding their company, studying their personalities and movement.

Patience is without a doubt most important when working with animals, when you invest time they give back, posing for amazing pictures.

I am never looking for a normal photo, comparable to my marine work, I studied them in all weathers and varying times of day as light conditions have a great impact on my work.

I will never stop striving to achieve new work and it has to be something that you love, something that you will enjoy on your wall year-round.

She has recently launched virtual reality software on her website so people can experience and sample her large prints in their own house using a mobile or tablet.

Read this article:

Lockdown sees photographer go from high seas to horses - Midhurst and Petworth Observer

Chris Gray Faust, CruiseCritic.com Published 11:00 a.m. ET June 4, 2021 | Updated 12:47 p.m. ET June 4, 2021

We would have posted this sooner, but "we were on a break." USA TODAY

Could it BE any more fun?

If the recent reunion of everybody's favorite Friends isn't enough for you, a theme cruise that celebrates the iconic '90s TV show will take place May 15 to May 21, 2022, on Celebrity Equinox. The cruise ship will leave from Fort Lauderdale, with scheduled ports of Key West, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

Like many theme cruises, the sailing is being put together by an outside company, the travel agency Fan World Travel. It is a partial charter of the ship, with events dedicated solely for people who book through the agency's siteCruise With Friends.

The site promises Friends-themed costume contests, trivia games and more: "Get ready to eat like Joey, joke like Chandler, cook like Monica, shop like Rachel, yoga like Phoebe and dig like Ross."

Theme cruises:From '80s music to auto racing, there's a cruise for every fandom

This image provided by HBO Max shows Matt LeBlanc, from left, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow in a scene from the "Friends" reunion special.(Photo: Terence Patrick, AP)

No actors from the show are scheduled to be on the cruise. But we speak from experience when we say that there's nothing like being on a cruise with 1,000 other people who love the same TV show that you do.

Review:The 'Friends' reunion is everything fans hoped it would be

Don't want to miss out on "The One With The Cruise"? Fares range from $1,648.66 per person for an inside stateroom up to $3,048.66 for a Sky Suite with a balcony. On Celebrity, Wi-Fi, a premium beverage package, $150 shore excursion credit per person, gratuities, taxes and fees are included in the fare.

Theme cruises often have different payment policies than regular cruises, and the Friends one is no exception. Deposits are $1,000 per person for inside, oceanview and balcony cabins and suites are $1,500 per person -- due at booking and nonrefundable. (The site encourages travel insurance).

So who will be there for you on the high seas? Grab your besties and find out.

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Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2021/06/04/friends-themed-cruise-coming-celebrity-equinox-may-2022/7540800002/

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Didn't get enough of a 'Friends' fix from the reunion? How about a 'Friends'-themed cruise? - USA TODAY

Chief stew Hannah got around $24k every six weeks

A new series of Below Deck Med will be dropping on June 29th and frankly, it cant come soon enough. I still havent got over when photographer Johnny Eyelash and his entourage got caught with coke and they all had to sail back to port. But while rich guests causing havoc on the high seas is great, the REAL drama comes from the staff. And although they get treated like absolute shit while on the show, it turns out the Below Deck cast get paid massive salaries.

Refinery 29 claim theyve worked out how much each staff member earns. Their analysis takes into account the average salary of crew working on superyachts, the likely fee they will receive for appearing on the show, as well as the average tips they get from the charter guests.

So, without further ado, heres what cast members of Below Deck actually earn while working on the show.

I want to be Captain Lee when I grow up

The captain of a yacht the size of those used on Below Deck earns between $150,000- $210,000 per year, and thats before tips.

A chief stew could expect to earn up to $6,000 per month, while the second or third stews would rake in around $5,000.

The chefs could get anywhere between $7,000-$10,000 depending on experience. Its no wonder that the legend that is Ben Robinson has a net worth of around $2.5m.

Chef Ben looking like hes put his finger in a plug socket

The deck hands are unsurprisingly at the lower end of the pay scale, but are still getting $5,000 a month. Not bad at all.

But wait a minute. This is all before tips. Each Below Deck cast member gets around $5,000 in tips for every six weeks they work. That means that for just a month and halfs work, chief stews like the unforgettable Hannah Ferrier, could have pulled in a whopping $24,000.

On top of this, the Below Deck cast dont work for the full yachting season so its highly plausible that they could go and work on different yachts and get more dollar for the rest of the year.

I think its time I learnt how to drive a boat.

Below Deck: Take this quiz and well tell you which rank youd be on a charter yacht

Below Deck: Who is Chef Ben and where is he now?

Below Deck: Where is Chief Stew Hannah Ferrier now?

Read the original here:

This is how much the cast of Below Deck actually earn - The Tab

By Lieutenant Commander G. Scott Carr/U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area June 04, 2021

The United Nations declared June 5 an international day for the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in late 2017. Yet, on the fourth observance of the annual awareness campaign, the global challenges continue to grow.

About 3.3 billion people nearly half of the worlds population rely on fish for 20 percent of their animal protein sources. However, 93 percent of the worlds major marine fish stocks are classified as fully exploited, overexploited, or significantly exploited.

With hopes of turning the tide against IUU, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) released its Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated Fishing Strategic Outlook in September 2020, identifying IUU fishing as the leading global maritime security threat ahead of piracy.

If left unchecked, IUU fishing threatens geopolitical stability around the world, because it undermines the economy of coastal states, increases tensions among fishing nations, and erodes governance structures, said Vice Admiral Linda Fagan, commander of USCG Pacific Area.

If left unchecked, IUU fishing threatens geopolitical stability around the world, because it undermines the economy of coastal states, increases tensions among fishing nations, and erodes governance structures, Vice Admiral Linda Fagan, commander of USCG Pacific Area.

The USCG stands ready to partner with nations committed to ending the scourge of IUU fishing, and it is asking them how they can work with the United States to achieve this goal.

The USCG has been the lead U.S. agency for at-sea enforcement of living marine resources laws for more than 150 years. USCG authorities, capabilities, capacity, and partnerships position the service to be a collaborative partner to combat IUU fishing. Its strategic outlook focuses on three areas:

The USCG has led the charge on countering nations and organizations that employ IUU fishing to undermine other nations sovereignty and economic security. In the Pacific islands, Oceania and the Western Pacific, Operation Blue Pacific is focused on combating IUU fishing and supporting partner nations through fisheries enforcement patrols on the high seas and the execution of bilateral ship-rider agreements.

Bilateral agreements operationalize the USCGs goal to expand multilateral fisheries enforcement cooperation and enhance regional maritime security and governance. Host country maritime enforcement officers ride aboard USCG cutters patrolling within the hosts exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Through this partnership, the host country increases its capability to enforce its sovereign fisheries laws, and the USCG provides operational assets and law enforcement expertise.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) Kimball recently completed an IUU fishing patrol in the Pacific islands, conducting 31 vessel evaluations and noting one potential violation. The USCG presence is increasing in the region with two national security cutters and three fast-response cutters stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, and three additional fast-response cutters scheduled to be stationed in Guam. These assets can bring sustained law enforcement presence deep into the Western and Central Pacific.

In the Eastern Pacific, the USCG conducted Operation Kuartam, a joint effort between CGC Bertholf and the Ecuadorian Navy around the Galapagos Islands.

Ecuador expressed concern to the United States about a large distant-water fishing fleet just outside the countrys EEZ. Authorities suspected the mostly Chinese-flagged fleet of IUU fishing and of harming the fragile ecosystem of the Galapagos, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

CGC Bertholf tracked dark vessels, so called because they dont broadcast their position on public monitoring systems, as well as nonregistered vessels and those exhibiting activities contrary to Regional Fishery Management Organization regulations and Ecuadorian sovereignty. CGC Bertholf maximized the partner nation engagement by patrolling with the Ecuadorian naval vessel LAE Isla San Cristobal in the Ecuadorian EEZ surrounding the Galapagos and in international waters. The operation highlighted significant progress for Central and South American partnerships in the fight against IUU fishing.

Using USCG capabilities to observe, collect, and share information on illicit activity in remote areas illustrates the many ways that the U.S. can help nations to police and protect their waters.

Global fish stocks are a valuable resource that provide economic and food security to many nations. IUU fishing, however, erodes regional and national security and undermines the maritime rules-based order.

See original here:

US Coast Guard Ready to Partner with Nations in Battling IUU fishing | Dilogo Americas - Dialogo-Americas.com

HONG KONG, 4 June 2021: Dream Cruises upcoming restart of cruises onboard Genting Dream from the ships homeport Hong Kong is gaining an enthusiastic response from the territorys residents, desperate to take a short break from lockdowns and restrictions.

Just one week after sales opened on 27 May, Genting Dreams first two high seas Super Summer Seacation cruises departing 30 July and 1 August are now close to 90% booked while Friday night departures throughout August have reached 50%.

The interest in Genting Dream has even extended toinquiries from corporate groups, charity organisations and wedding parties whoare looking at chartering the ship later in the year, said Genting CruiseLines president Kent Zhu. Also contributing to the success of our cruises hasbeen the backing we have received from travel and business partners who havebeen a great support to Dream Cruises throughout the years.

One of the business partners Wing On Travels CEO Lanny Leung said the cruises received apositive response from the market.

Another Miramar Travels general manager Alex Lee said:Since the announcement of Dream Cruises our corporate and business clientshave been very interested in booking MICE itineraries onboard Genting Dream. Aswell, our loyal long-haul and overseas cruise passengers who have been yearningto cruise again now have a product that will fulfil their desire to vacation onthe open seas. Our hope is that this will help stimulate the hard-hit tourismeconomy and bring much-needed bookings back to travel agents who have beenaffected by Covid-19.

Set to begin sailing from 30 July, Genting Dream will embarkon two and three-night Super Summer Seacations on the high seas intime for the summer holidays in Hong Kong. The two-night cruises will departFridays and Wednesday, and the three-night cruise on Sunday.

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Dream response to cruise bookings - TTR Weekly

Giant distant-water fishing fleets, primarily from China, are switching off their tracking beacons to evade detection while they engage in a possibly illegal hunt for squid and other lucrative species on the very edge of Argentinas extensive fishing grounds, according to a new study by Oceana, an international NGO dedicated to ocean conservation.

Every year, vessels crowd together along the limits of Argentinas Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to take advantage of the lucrative fishing grounds.

By monitoring the ships tracking beacons between January 2018 and April 2021, Oceana found that more than 800 vessels apparently conducted nearly 900,000 hours of fishing within 20 nautical miles of the invisible border between Argentinas national waters and the high seas.

During this three-and-a-half-year period, there were over 6,000 instances in which these fishing vessels appeared to go dark by potentially disabling their electronic tracking devices, known as Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), says the report, published on Wednesday, titled, Now You See Me, Now You Dont: Vanishing Vessels Along Argentinas Waters.

In all, these vessels were hidden for over 600,000 hours during which Oceana suspects they crossed over into Argentinas territorial waters for illegal fishing.

Its very suspicious that they have their AIS turned off for such a large proportion of the time they are out fishing, said Marla Valentine, an ecologist at Oceana, an international NGO dedicated to ocean conservation.

Billions of dollars worth of marine life are being removed from the ecosystems, such as squid, hake and shrimp, which are fed on by species like tuna. This can have lasting impacts on their reproductive cycle, said Valentine.

Nearly 66% of the dark vessels were Chinese-flagged squid jiggers vessels with bright lights and hooks designed to catch squid, while 6%were Spanish.But the Spanish trawlers that tow heavy nets along the sea bed to catch species such as Argentine hake and red shrimp went dark more often than Chinese vessels.

On average, the larger Chinese fleet had 12.88 gap events per vessel while the smaller Spanish fleet had an average 45 gaps per vessel, Valentine said.

The presence of so many vessels just off Argentinas waters has caused a number of high-sea confrontations with Argentinas coast guard. In April last year approximately 100 squid jiggers mostly Chinese-flagged were caught allegedly fishing illegally during nighttime incursions in Argentinian waters, each with their AIS turned off.

In 2016, a Chinese trawler was sunk after reportedly trying to ram a Coast Guard vessel and in 2018 four Chinese fishing vessels allegedly teamed up to protect a fifth vessel the Coast Guard was pursuing, the report says.

There is a fine line between what is legal, sustainable, responsible and regulated, said Valentine. They could be just one inch outside Argentinas exclusion zone and it would be considered legal.

Argentina has one of the worlds largest squid fisheries with a trade value of nearly $4bn in 2016. The countrys squid are critically important to the global economy, food security, and ocean resilience, says the report.

Oceana last year also reported on illegal fishing by huge Chinese fleets along South Americas Pacific coast, affecting Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Vessels in that group were also accused of disabling their public tracking devices, and engaging in potentially suspect transshipment practices, all of which can facilitate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The rest is here:

Hundreds of fishing fleets that go dark suspected of illegal hunting, study finds - The Guardian

Liminal or hybrid warfare is not going to result in great tank battles in the Fulda or Suwalki Gaps

Interview by Octavian Manea

SWJ Q&A with Admiral (Ret.) James Foggo, a distinguished Fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Over the last decade in Naples, Italy, he served in multiple major commands as Commander, Naval Forces Europe/Africa; Commander Allied Joint Force Command, Naples; Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet; Commander, Submarine Group 8; and Commander, Submarines, Allied Naval Forces South.

OM: Seven years after the Crimea annexation, the Black Sea remains what has been called the soft underbelly of NATO. How do you see the transformation/the changes in the Russian way of warfare and what worries you about them? There is a term that I found very useful in this context coined by David Kilcullen in his most recent book where he talks about a special type of warfare that of liminal warfare - essentially riding the edge, exploiting the ambiguity of blurred lines of conflict to challenge an established order and exert control on key parts of the regional commons - practiced in a certain ecosystem, a geographical area transitioning between two states of beingthat are in limbo, that have ambiguous political, legal and psychological status.

JF: My introduction to the Black Sea took place in early 2011. In 2010, I became a one-star admiral in charge of Submarine Group 8 in the Allied Submarine South that included the navies of the Southern Mediterranean and Black Sea region countries that operated submarines (Greece and Turkey). At that time, we were bringing the Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers to Rota, Spain as Forward Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF). It was our desire to use those ships in multi-mission capacity, not just for missile defense which is their primary mission, but to perform other multi-missions: anti-submarine warfare, anti-air warfare, maritime interdiction operations, etc. The US DDG is really a versatile platform. We sent one of these destroyers then to the Black Sea for the first time and the Russians were not happy about it. The Burke Class Destroyers have the ability to carry the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) and the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3)--the best ballistic missile interceptor in the world. When the Russians protested against the destroyer sailing in the Black Sea on a legitimate Montreux convention request, the response of the Sixth Fleet Commander at the timeAdmiral Harry Harris was Well, send another one! The important lesson learned here is that you have to be present for both your allies and partners to receive reassurance and to let others that want to challenge you know that you are going to be there with like-minded nations in solidarity. In other words, Virtual presence equals actual absence! Eventually, the Russians got used to a US DDG entering and operating in the Black Sea.

As this relationship progressed with the post-Soviet era Russian Federation, there was actual dialogue, we had joint military activities with their forces. Every year, it became a milestone event to build and approve the Russia Work-Plan. Everything done in collaboration with Russian Forces was approved at the Secretary of Defense level. In fact, during the run-up to the Olympic Games in Sochi we had two ships in the Black Sea, but then out of the blue, came the illegal annexation of Crimea and the Russia Work Plan ground to a halt. We should have seen this coming after the 2008 attack on Georgia but for some reason we didnt. As a community of western allies and partners we were completely surprised. This was accomplished through what David Kilcullen calls liminal warfare or essentially hybrid warfare by a different name. Personally, I dont like the little green men expression, but I do appreciate and understand hybrid. Undermining a sovereign nation can be done without firing a shot through intimidation, spawning social or nationalistic unrest, capitalizing on social-media and utilizing the new domains of cyber and space in coordinated attacks that occur under the threshold of a NATO Charter Article 5. All these things happened and now Crimea has been annexed and there exists a continuing tension along the border in Donbas or what is often called a frozen conflict. Sometimes this area heats up as we saw most recently with the build-up of a 100,000 Russian forces along the line of demarcation between Crimea and the rest of the Ukraine. In the final analysis, I was relieved that the Russians stood down, but they proved they can do this quickly and that it wouldnt have taken much to go from an exercise to a real-world operation and cross that line in Donbas. Accordingly, we need to continue to maintain our presence in the Black Sea - the soft underbelly of Eastern Europe.

OM: What does the hybrid component mean when applied to maritime issues? I think weve seen of glimpse of that when we look to the Russian actions in the Azov Sea or in the broader Black Sea ecosystem.

JF: Hybrid or liminal warfare conveys that something is brewing as I said earlier, and brewing below the threshold of an Article 5 violation. We have this expression in the West called the boiling frog. The frog sits in a pot of water that is slowly brought to a boil. In the final analysis, the temperature change is so subtle over time, that the frog never realizes that its been cooked. Some of the incremental changes or encroachment that have taken place in the Black Sea region during the last decade and my tenure of seven commands in Europe remind me of the boiling frog scenario.

For example, beyond Russian actions in Georgia in 2008 and the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, I was the Commander of Naval Forces Europe in 2018 when the Sea of Azov incident (where Russian FSB vessels fired on, rammed and captured Ukrainian naval vessels) took place. The regulation of the Sea of Azov is different than the regulation of the Black Sea or other body of waters under the UN Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS). The Sea of Azov is regulated by a bilateral agreement between Russia and Ukraine that was signed in 2004. As a result, it is the business of these two signatories to resolve their differences in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, thereby limiting what Western powers can do on the other side of the Kerch bridge and up to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol. Nevertheless, when I was the Naval Forces Europe Commander, I said both publicly and privately, that left unchecked, the West might see an export of this protocol/pattern of bad behavior from the Sea of Azov into the Black Sea. In other words, the Russians could export this protocol of restricting access to the Sea of Azov to the rest of the Black Sea. I believe this is exactly what happened recently, coincident with the build-up of Russian land and air forces near Donbas, followed by Russian Navy forces announcing a number of closure areas in the approaches to the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea throughout this summer and into the fall. This is a form of hybrid warfare.

They tried the same thing during the Trident Juncture 2018 off the coast of Norway and the Norwegians told me it was the first time that they had seen a declaration of a closure area for a missile exercise in their EEZ very close to their territorial waters, as well as in the middle of Trident Juncture maritime operations. When you declare closure areas, under the auspices of the UNCLOS - you dont own that piece of ocean. The oceans are called the global commons for a reason. Nations declare closure areas to notify their intent to conduct dangerous military activities (like a missile exercise) for the benefit of civilian traffic in the impacted areas. It is intended to be a safety mechanism but can be abused to cut off sea lines of communications and normal transit routes. This is what is happening todayit is an unfair practice and it should be stoppedso what can you do about it? There is no reason you cant sail into those areas, particularly if nothing is going on at the time. Demonstrating the will and the ability to project power and presence is very important. Both sides eventually get used to it. It is important to challenge this kind of hybrid warfare at sea with presence operations that are non-hostile. It is also important that in doing so, we reduce the chance of mistakes and miscalculations on the high seas during close encounters between US/NATO and Russian warships. There needs to be a broader NATO multilateral agreement on this and I would suggest that NATO Navies conduct a closer examination of the Code on Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) for risk mitigation during unplanned encounters, particularly in the Black Sea.

OM: Lets reflect a bit on the broader consequences of Russia investing massively in counter-power-projections bastions to neutralize some of the traditional features of the American/Western Way of war. How do they change local balances of power? What worries you the most? How should US and NATO forces change how they operate in increasingly such non-permissive environments?

JF: This should not come as a surprise to the West. It was back at the turnover of the millennium, around 2000, when it was recognized at least in Washington, in some think tanks and amongst the strategic minds in the Pentagon one of these was Andy Marshall who was the head of the Net Assessment that an anti-access/area denial strategy was a very real and rather inexpensive manner in which to secure an area of a coastline or airspace against any potential threat or amphibious landing of an opposing force. Early in this century, we started to see the build-up of the highest density of weapon systems (an interlocking system of coastal missiles, interceptor aircraft, air-defense systems, surface ships, and submarines) in one geographic area Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea. It was really the first A2/AD bastion that was created in this post-Cold War Russian Federation world. An A2/AD strategy can be very effective. It builds on the proliferation of weapons of asymmetric warfare and although it is effective in protecting a coastline, it can also reach out much further than territorial waters and into the open ocean where it can restrict the ability of commercial shipping to conduct freedom of navigation on the sea lines of communication in international waters.

When talking about A2/AD, I always refer back to a famous war-game in United States called Millennium Challenge where a retired Marine Cops officer, Lt. Gen. Paul van Riper took command of the Red Force (the opposing force) and created an A2/AD strategy that it was so effective that the exercise had to be re-set and had to started over. Over time, because the A2/AD strategy has been successful, particularly the Russians and now the Chinese, are both investing their resources to protect their interests and project power far from their respective coastlines. Who would have ever thought that the Russians would have established such a significant presence in Syria? In fact, theyve created an A2/AD cordon around Syria and out into the Mediterranean which raises tension in the Eastern Mediterranean. With the annexation of Crimea in Black Sea theyve done the same thing with S-300 and S-400 systems that form a cordon of early warning well beyond 12 miles from land. There are also increasing numbers of reported incidents of GPS jamming or spoofing in the Black Sea and other maritime domains where we operate. These are all functions of the expansion of the domain(s) of warfare from what used to be 3 domains (land, sea, air) into now 5 domains (+ cyber and + space).

One of the things Ive told to my friends in the Black Sea was that if this A2/AD strategy is being effectively employed by our adversaries, why dont you try it yourself? In fact, building a network of connected surveillance along the coastline is exactly what Romania and Bulgaria are doing. The challenge is to connect on the other side with Georgia, Ukraine and Turkey as well.

Its becoming very busy in the Black Sea especially when you add the 6 Kilo class submarines (2 that are operating in the Eastern Med, 4 that are operating in the Black Sea) that carry the very capable Kalibr cruise missile which Russia proved it works very well in combat. With the reach of the Kalibr weapons system, they can essentially target any capital city in Europe. We need to know where those vessels are at any one time. This can be very challenging.

OM: The traditional discussion when you try to counter and A2/AD posture is either to incentivize allies to build their A2/AD capabilities but on the side is also the idea of adopting an ASB (Air Sea Battle) kind of thinking. Is this also part of the broader picture that NATO should have in mind for the Black Sea ecosystem?

JF: The new strategic review that was conducted by NATO happened to be led by one of CEPAs own Dr. Wess Mitchell, a brilliant diplomat and scholar. To my great delight the report underscored the need for a new NATO maritime strategy. The last one was published in 2011, before of the return of the Russian Federation and the rise of China as a peer competitor.

Often times when a crisis occurs, we are late to recognize it because a failure of indications and warnings, we were not paying attention to signals and then we respond by running to the sound of guns. I had two grandfathers in the First World War in the trenches and my father hit the beach in Normandy after D-Daythey

ran to the sound of guns

In the NATO maritime domain, often times we will also run to the sound of the guns. Is it in response to a snap exercise in the High North or the Arctic region? Is it in response to high tension in the waters off Kaliningrad or is it in response to the most recent build-up in Donbas both at sea and on the land?

With a strategy you have a plan. There are branches and sequels to that plan. These plans are adapted to geographical regions, like the GRPs. When you have a plan then you understand what tools, capabilities and what capacity and types of ships you need to successfully deter or defend. When you articulate those types of platforms and the capabilities that goes with them (anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare) that costs the Alliance in terms of resources from individual nations or NATO Common Funding. A strategy can provide some form of coalescence and agreement on who provides what to support the plan.

The last piece of the puzzle that is really important about any strategy is what we in the United States call a Time Phased Force Development Doctrine (TPFDD) i.e. who goes first and when and where do follow-on forces arrive?

Incorporating all of these things in the paragraphs preceding will constitute a maritime strategy that is much overdue.

OM: What are the implications for the West of what you call as the Fourth Battle of the Atlantic? How should NATO adapt its maritime posture to deal effectively with it?

JF: When I coined the expression the Fourth Battle of the Atlantic with my brilliant co-author, Dr. Alarik Fritz back in 2016, neither of us realized how popular that expression would become.

At the time, we were sounding the alarm on the fact that Russia employs an arc of steel from the Arctic through the Baltic and down to the Black Sea. Russia has the capability to hold nearly all NATO maritime forces at risk. No longer is the maritime space uncontested. For the first time in almost 30 years, Russia is a significant and aggressive maritime power.

This response to our warning order on the return of the Russian Federation (particularly in the undersea domain) was met with strong resolve on the part of the Alliance. We are able to assign an extra fleet to augment the 6th Fleet and MARCOM and our NATO Allies in deterring and defending the euro-Atlantic theatre. When people asked me during my time as Naval Forces Europe CommanderIs the US withdrawing from Europe?I said absolutely not. Lets look at some recent events. We just re-inculcated the Second Fleet thats been decommissioned for a while. We agreed to create a Joint Forces Command HQ in Norfolk, Virginia to bolster the pillar of the transatlantic bridge from the North America to Europe. That was a significant event and expenditure of resources on the part of the United States. Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, USN, has done a great job taking that organization from initial operational capability to full operational capability. He deployed forward and took command of the BALTOPS and established an expeditionary HQ in Iceland in advance of one of our Carrier Strike Group deployments.

It should be also stated that the Fourth Battle of the Atlantic is not only about the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the other oceans and seas that connect with the Atlantic Ocean including the Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. In fact, the Arctic Ocean represents the trans-Polar bridge between Northern Europe and the Barents Sea in the Western Pacific. It is an area of common ground between the Pacific and the Atlantic and Northern Europe and it brings us together with our Asian allies and partners. This region, encompassing the coastlines of eight bordering Arctic nations, including the Russians (they have 40% of the coastline and a lot of the natural resources are on their continental shelf) we have a new arrivala self-declared Near Arctic Nation China.

The Baltic Sea is another important region. Like the Black Sea is a closed area of water, you have to get through a strait to get there so there is a choke point. It is a thriving economic area and nobody wants to disrupt that through major power conflict or regional crisis. We want to be calm, prosperous, stable, secure and safe for all the Baltic Sea nations. The same situation exists in the Black Sea or Mediterranean Sea. The concept of the Fourth Battle of the Atlantic and how you respond to it or how you prevent in getting worse is important to all these important bodies of water.

OM: You commanded one of the biggest post-Cold War exercises of NATO - Trident Juncture 2018. Core dimensions of NATO adaptation after Crimea annexation such as VJTF or NRF were exercised then. What were the lessons that youve learned from Trident Juncture 2018?

JF: It remains the most successful NATO exercise since the Cold War. For me, Trident Juncture was the pinnacle of my 39-year career and the chance to command a force of 50,000 NATO Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines onboard 70 ships, 265 aircraft and 10,000 tracked or rolling vehicles. It was an Article 5 exercise and even though we used a fictitious adversarys name as reporters continued to press me, I acquiesced that it was all about the Russians and our ability to deter and defend in the euro-Atlantic theatre. We spend 90% of our time deterring but we wanted them to understand that we are capable of moving a very large preponderance of force into the territory of a NATO nation whose sovereignty had been violated in order to defend it.

Under the Total Defence Concept, we received tremendous support in Norway from Viking military and civilian forces alike, including hoteliers, air traffic controllers, cab drivers, barbers and stevedores. The logistical statistics were stunning for the period of the exercise: 58 container ships arrived, 2100 containers delivered, 150 road convoys conducted, 1 million meals served, 660 tonnes of laundry washed, 35,000 beds established in the field.

It was the equivalent of moving 7 brigades in about a month. There was significant planning up until that event and in the future, we are not going to have the time to plan in this time horizon, but what the Trident Juncture demonstrated was that there is an incredible dependence in the Alliance on logistics and military mobility.

The Russians were also invited. They were able to see with complete transparency what NATO accomplished during the exercise. We demonstrated what we wanted to that NATO alliance is extremely strong, cohesive, capable and so dont mess with us!

TRIDENT JUNCTURE contributed to deterrence not only just in the High North and Arctic but also all the way to the Black Sea. The more you raise the risk calculus for the adversary, the less likely they are to cross the line. In the case of hybrid warfare in the Ukraine (not a full member of the Alliance), the risk was low enough to make it attractive. I think that whats went through the Russian leaderships decision calculus. In particular, Russian leadership concluded that it could cross this line and take this territory without firing a shot, and so they did it.

We must consider this carefully in preparing for the future. Liminal or hybrid warfare is not going to result in great tank battles in the Fulda or Suwalki Gaps. I dont think that traditional symmetrical warfare is what is going to happen. It is going to be these little pressurized pockets of intimidation below the threshold of article 5 and the boiling frog scenario it happens and its done before we know it. In conclusion, I submit that if the precursor to war becomes the war itself, then weve got to re-evaluate the whole manner in which we conduct warfighting. I think that is where we are today. The next battle of the Atlantic is going to look a lot different than the Fourth Battle of the Atlantic that we are fighting today. Lets do what it takes to be ready for it

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'Liminal or hybrid warfare is not going to result in great tank battles in the Fulda or Suwalki Gaps' - smallwarsjournal