Quad Leaders Unveil Maritime Security Initiative to Increase Surveillance in Indo-Pacific

(L–R) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for photos at the entrance hall of the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan in Tokyo on May 24, 2022. Zhang Xiaoyu/Reuters

The leaders of the “Quad”—the United States, Japan, Australia, and India—on Tuesday unveiled a maritime security initiative to better track illegal fishing and “dark shipping” in the Indo-Pacific.

The initiative, dubbed the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), was unveiled during the Quad meeting in Tokyo. It will enable the nations to “fully monitor” and uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific.