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Massive operation catches illegal fishermen |
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A two-week combined air and sea operation codenamed ‘Breakwater’ in Australia's northern
waters has caught 23 illegal fishing boats and 197 foreign fishermen who face jail or deportation but many more are waiting their chance. Chartered tugboats were used to bring seized boats into port and the Oceanic Viking, chartered by customs, was used to accommodate illegal fishermen before they were brought ashore, thus allowing the navy and customs boats to remain longer at sea Two of the vessels seized were 35-metre steel-hulled trawlers registered in China. There were eight large Indonesian-flagged ice-boats and 13 shark-finning vessels. Since January 2006, 104 illegal vessels have been seized in Australia's northern waters but it is thought that more than 100 foreign vessels were waiting outside Australia's fishing zone for the weather to improve. The Australian Government needs to do more about illegal fishing vessels. There were 13,000 sightings in 2005 and the government failed to make enough seizures. It is likely that while these fishermen were being caught in the Northern Territory, hundreds more off Western Australia and Queensland were going undetected. |
