Rear Adm. Nathan Moore, U.S. Coast Guard 17th District, commander, and Neil O’Rourke, Canadian Coast Guard Arctic Region, assistant commissioner, holding the officially signed Beaufort Sea Annex, at Hay River Base, Northwest Territories, Canada, June 8, 2022.
Canada and the United States are parties to a long-standing bilateral agreement regarding cooperation in protection of natural resources in Canada-U.S. (CAN-US) trans-boundary areas. Since 1983 the CAN-US Joint Marine Pollution Contingency Plan (JCP) has included five geographic annexes which outline the scope and terms for planning and coordinating responses to transboundary pollution in the maritime domain. These annexes are the responsibility of the respective regional Coast Guard offices. U.S. Coast Guard District 17 collaborates with Canadian Coast Guard counterparts to maintain and exercise two of the annexes: Annex 4 (Beaufort Sea) and Annex 5 (Dixon Entrance).