The US Coast Guard Cutter, Juniper, is in town as part of a fisheries patrol mission in the Pacific.
The vessel, which is homeported in Honolulu, engages in Maritime Law Enforcement, Coastal Security, Search and Rescue, and Environmental Protection.
Operations Officer, Lt. Junior Grade Ryan Burk said a very important part of their mission is enforcement of fisheries regulations in the Pacific region.
Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing is said to be costing Pacific Island countries billions of dollars in lost revenue. China is seen as the main culprit.
In an interview with local media at the main dock, Lt Burk talked about some of the common violations they’ve found in Pacific waters.
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Meanwhile a tattered US flag flying on the Coast Guard cutter has drawn the ire of local resident Tim Jones. He has posted a photo of the flag on FB saying it’s an “absolute shameful display of a US Flag in taters on a visiting USCG ship.
“What’s wrong with this generation of military personnel,” he asks. “No respect at all for our nations colors!”
Jones told KHJ News, “I warned them if they didn’t take down that flag and give it to me so i could be sure it didn’t leave port and get displayed again somewhere else that I would go to the media. They took down the flag. But they didn’t give t to me. So here we go.”
Jones asks that people share his FB post of the tattered flag so “President Joe Biden can see his shameful effect on our military.”
