The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) has apprehended a foreign fishing vessel suspected of fishing offences in the Territorial Sea within the Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ).
Cape Nelson, an Australian Defence Vessel, operated under the command of the Australian Border Force (ABF) to intercept the foreign fishing vessel.
KM MASRAWATI was about 10 nautical miles north-west from Colbert Island off north Western Australia and was detected by an ABF Dash-8 surveillance aircraft.
“Those fishing illegally in Australian waters are breaking the very rules and regulations that we have in place to ensure sustainable Commonwealth fisheries now and into the future,” said, Peter Venslovas, AFMA’s general manager of operations.
He added: “AFMA will continue to work with the Australian Border Force to patrol our waters and those found doing the wrong thing will be caught.”
AFMA and Australian Defence Force personnel searched the vessel and recovered fishing equipment in the form of longlines, about 200 steel traces with hooks for targeting shark species, as well as a gillnet of about 50m in length and reef shoes used for walking across reefs at low tide collecting sea cucumber.
The vessel was taken to Darwin, along with eight crew members, for further investigation by AFMA.
Peter Laver, commander maritime border command rear admiral, said: “Over the past decade we’ve seen apprehensions decrease substantially from 367 in the financial year 2005-06 to 13 apprehensions in our Northern waters since July 2015.”
He concluded: “This is a testament not only to our strong on-water and in-the-air presence but also the capacity-building and information-sharing between international and Australian agencies.”
