ARCTIC WEST SUMMER CRUISE 98

Otaru, Japan (May 18)--Japanese fishermen in Otaru, Japan don't seem to mind that part of their fishing pier is taken up by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea (WAGB 11) in 1998. The Polar Sea visited Otaru and Korsakov, Russia as part of its Artic West Summer Cruise in May 1998. The primary purpose of the cruise was to participate inan international oil spill exercise between Japan, Russia and the U.S.; the first time an exercise of this type had ever occurred in Russian waters. USCG photo by PAC Tod A. Lyons