Coast Guardsmen
Coast Guardsmen on the USCGC Stone (WMSL-758) observe potential illegal fishing in the Atlantic. The service’s strategy for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is to document and report, but failing to act decisively to end it only allows continued exploitation of natural resources.
U.S. Coast Guard (John Hightower)

The Fallacy of Presence

General Prize Essay Contest—Third Prize
Sponsored by Andrew and Barbara Taylor

Presence that is not backed up by authorization for substantive action is rarely a deterrent.
By Chief Boatswain’s Mate Phillip Null, U.S. Coast Guard
May 2021
Proceedings
Comments

A few miles off the coast of the far northeast corner of the continental United States is a disputed international boundary and a “gray zone” of water over which the United States and a peer nation have competing claims of sovereignty. These waters offer a warning regarding the effectiveness of the military’s current “culture of presence.”

Often viewed as areas of competition short of conflict, such gray zones actually are likely flashpoints, and restricting U.S. operations in these disputed areas to showing presence is an untenable practice. It has fostered a dangerous culture within U.S. naval forces, who increasingly confuse presence with action. Such a culture gives the advantage to belligerent nations and nonstate actors and must be rooted out of strategic visions and policies in favor of  a “culture of aggressive nonviolence,” meaning one enabled to seize, burn, and sink with due care for the preservation of life.

Premium Member-Only Content

Don't miss out. Become a member of the Naval Institute today.

Join Today

1. Heather Brady, “The ‘Gray Zone’ between the U.S. and Canada: Why This Murky Border Matters,” National Geographic, 23 July 2018.

2. “Lobster War: About the Film,” 2018, https://lobsterwar.com/aboutthefilm.

3. U.S. Coast Guard, Advantage at Sea: Prevailing with Integrated All-Domain Naval Power, December 2020, www.uscg.mil/tsms.

4. “Lobster War: About the Film.”

5. NOAA Fisheries, “United States and Canada Must Sustain Additional Efforts to Reduce North Atlantic Right Whale Mortalities, Serious Injuries,” 27 January 2020.

6. Chris Chase, “Massachusetts Officials Plan Lobster-fishing Bans to Protect Right Whales,” Seafood Source, 22 December 2020.

7. U.S. Coast Guard, Ocean Guardian (Washington, DC: 2014), www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/Strategy/USCG_OceanGuardian_Final.pdf.

8. U.S. Coast Guard, Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Strategic Outlook (Washington, DC: September 2020), www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/Images/iuu/IUU_Strategic_Outlook_2020_FINAL.pdf.

9. NOAA, National Marine Protected Areas Center, Enforcing U.S. Marine Protected Areas: Synthesis Report (Silver Spring, MD: 2005), https://nmsmarineprotectedareas.blob.core.windows.net/marineprotectedareas-prod/media/archive/pdf/publications/enforcement.pdf.

10. U.S. Coast Guard, Annual Performance Report Fiscal Year 2017 (Washington, DC: 2017), www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/documents/budget/FY17%20APR%2015%20May%2018%20-%20Final%20-%20POSTED.pdf.

11. U.S. Coast Guard, Advantage at Sea.

12. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Public Affairs, “U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone (WMSL-758) Completes Operation Southern Cross,” SouthCom.mil, 5 March 2021.

13. U.S. Coast Guard, “Coast Guard, Ecuadorian Navy Conduct Joint Patrol Off Galapagos Islands,” news release, 3 September 2020.

14. Mark Godfrey, “Argentine Coast Guard Opens Fire on Chinese Fishing Vessel,” SeafoodSource, 4 March 2018.

15. Francis Chan, “Indonesia Blows Up and Sinks Another 81 Fishing Boats for Poaching, The Straits Times, 2 April 2017.

16. Associated Press, “Indonesia Sinks 51 Foreign Boats to Fight against Poaching,” Navy Times, 5 May 2019.

17. U.S. Coast Guard, Advantage at Sea:.

Chief Boatswain’s Mate Phillip Null, U.S. Coast guard

Chief Boatswain’s Mate Null, an accomplished operator across the service’s search-and-rescue, law enforcement, security, and disaster response missions, is the executive petty officer at Motor Lifeboat Station Jonesport, Maine. He holds an associate’s degree in emergency management and planning from Red Rocks Community College and a bachelor’s degree in emergency and disaster management from American Military University.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Related Articles

Episode 25 - "Presence is Not Deterrence"

12 April 2018
Bill and Ward talk to Lieutenant Joseph Hanacek, U.S. Navy, about his article in the April Proceedings titled, "Presence Is Not Deterrence," in which he makes a distinction between "active" and "latent" suasion and suggests the Navy is doing too much of the latter, while assuming it covers the former.

Quicklinks