AFMA recently joined forces with the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Royal Australian Navy and Border Protection Command, to successfully apprehend an illegal foreign vessel and its crew members in the Torres Strait.
The foreign vessel was sighted on 16 September 2014 by a Border Protection Command helicopter over a reef approximately 11 nautical miles inside the Australian jurisdiction.
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service vessel (ACV) Botany Bay and Royal Australian Navy vessel HMAS Gascoyne both assigned to Border Protection Command, were prepared and ready to take action with sea boats launched for possible interception. At this time, officers witnessed crew members from the illegal vessel attempting to drag their boat across the reef to escape approaching authorities.
AFMA and Royal Australian Navy officers were deployed on to the reef and after a chase managed to detain the vessel and its crew suspected of being in breach of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984. On completion of initial investigations, sufficient evidence was gathered and an apprehension was approved by AFMA. With cooperation from the National Fisheries Authority of Papua New Guinea and the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary the crew of Papua New Guinea (PNG) nationals were later repatriated to PNG. The boat was seized and towed to AFMA on Thursday Island pending condemnation. The master of the vessel was later convicted and fined in the Daru District Court, and the vessel has been forfeit to the Commonwealth.
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Royal Australian Navy and Border Protection Command worked together again in late October, responding to reports of illegal netting of dugong in the vicinity of Saibai Island in the Torres Strait. We will provide further updates on the netting of dugong in future AFMA updates.