Joint statement Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority
Maritime Border Command (MBC), a multiagency task force within the Australian Border Force (ABF) working in cooperation with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and the Australian Defence Force, apprehended an Indonesian foreign fishing vessel on 6 November 2016 that was suspected of illegally fishing in Australian waters. The fishing vessel was first spotted by an MBC aircraft during a surveillance flight.
Australian Border Force Cutter Cape St George responded to the sighting and after a short pursuit, intercepted the Indonesian fishing vessel. The vessel was initially sighted about 4.9 kilometres inside Australian waters, about 278 kilometres north-west of Cape Londonderry at the top end of Western Australia.
During the boarding of the vessel, officers located between 200-500 kilograms of fish, 18 shark fins and a baited hook line estimated to be one kilometre in length on board. The vessel and its crew arrived into Darwin today where further investigations will be undertaken by AFMA.
This is the fifth apprehension this financial year for suspected illegal fishing.
The ABF takes an intelligence-led, risk-based approach to protecting Australia’s borders. Intelligence assessment and aerial surveillance in high priority areas provide early threat identification and a cue for on-water response by available vessels, as demonstrated by these recent apprehensions.
The collaborative, whole-of-government approach to deterring and combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has seen illegal fishing apprehensions drop significantly from record highs of more than 300 in 2006 to just 20 last financial year as a result of fewer boats venturing into Australian waters.
More information on how Australia is working to combat illegal fishing can be found at afma.gov.au.