Joint media release Department of Immigration and Border Protection and Australian Fisheries Management Authority
Marine wildlife, including a critically endangered sea turtle, have been rescued after another successful ghost net location and retrieval by Maritime Border Command (MBC) within the Australian Border Force (ABF).
It’s the second time in seven days that MBC has located and removed a large ghost net; this time from the Timor Sea about 150 nautical miles (nm) north-north-west of Darwin.
The abandoned net was sighted by an MBC aerial surveillance aircraft during a patrol on Tuesday (1 November).
Australian Defence Force (ADF) vessel HMAS Bathurst was tasked to respond; locating and removing the net weighing about 4 tonnes and spanning 500 square metres from the water on Thursday (3 November).
As part of the recovery, HMAS Bathurst successfully released a number of fish species, as well as a Hawksbill sea turtle, which is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being critically endangered. Hawksbill sea turtles are found mainly throughout the world’s tropical oceans, predominantly in coral reefs. They are a fundamental link in marine ecosystems and help maintain the health of coral reefs and sea grass beds.
Hawksbill turtle freed from ghost net by MBC officer
This operation follows the manual retrieval of about 2 tonnes of ghost net by ABF officers on board ABF Cutter Thaiyak around 240 nm north-east of Darwin on 25 October.
So far in 2016, seven ghost nets, weighing an estimated 29.6 tonnes combined, have been located in the Timor Sea, Torres Strait and Arafura Sea. All of these nets have been successfully retrieved and disposed of by ABF, ADF and Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) personnel.
Commander MBC, Rear Admiral Peter Laver, said these continued operations with our partners illustrate MBC’s commitment to responding to the range of threats in Australia’s maritime zones, as well as our commitment to protecting Australia’s unique marine wildlife and resources.
“This is yet another great result for our ABF and ADF officers protecting Australia’s maritime domain,” Rear Admiral Laver said. “Ghost nets cause significant damage to Australia’s environment and marine wildlife, and in this case, would have likely killed an endangered species.”
AFMA’s General Manager Operations Peter Venslovas highlighted the importance of removing ghost nets from Australian fisheries.
“Abandoned fishing nets present a major risk to the marine environment and AFMA remains committed to working with other Australian Government agencies to locate, remove and dispose of these threats,” Mr Venslovas said.
HMAS Bathurst has transported the net to Darwin for destruction by AFMA.
Media enquiries:
Immigration and Border Protection 02 6264 2244
Australian Fisheries Management Authority 0437 869 860