Four Indonesian fishermen who pleaded guilty to fishing offences in Australian waters have been fined and will spend time in prison due to outstanding warrants from unpaid fines due to previous offences.
The fishing vessel was located by aerial surveillance and subsequently intercepted by HMAS Maitland on 25th June, 27 nautical miles south of Browse Island off Western Australia in an operation carried out by Maritime Border Force.
The Indonesian boat was observed actively fishing inside the Australian EEZ from 22nd to 25th June.
A search of the vessel located 50kg of fish meat and 10kg of shark fin on board, with deployed fishing gear sighted in the water. The vessel was judged to be unseaworthy and sunk at the scene.
The matter was handed over to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority for further investigation.
When the case came up before the Darwin Local Court, the magistrate handed down convictions for the repeat offenders, with the skipper fined AUD$15,000 and the three crew each fined AUD$6000.
