Get real on illegal fishing, UN urged

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16977789-29277,00.html

THE Federal Government is calling for an urgent overhaul of international law as it grapples with a large and increasingly violent fleet of fish poachers in Australian waters.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16980490-1702,00.html

TWO Melbourne men were jailed for six months for assaulting fisheries officers who found the men poaching abalone.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16980860-29277,00.html

AUSTRALIAN authorities have seized 31 illegal fishing boats in a two-week operation to protect marine stocks in its northern waters, Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald said today.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17149809-29277,00.html

FIVE foreign fishermen have been acquitted of poaching Australian fish stocks in a case that involved the world's longest sea chase and cost the government millions of dollars.

A District Court jury in Perth last night found the men not guilty of illegal fishing charges two years after their arrest at the end of the 7000km pursuit across the Southern Ocean.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17306744-29277,00.html

FIVE Indonesian fishermen are being held in Darwin after being found in Australian waters.

The fishermen were spotted by a Coastwatch aircraft off the Northern Territory coast on Thursday, Australian Customs said.

However, before a patrol boat could reach the fishermen, residents from Maningrida escorted them into the coastal town for interview by Customs officials.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17351507-29277,00.html

TWO suspected illegal fishing boats, thought to have been in West Australian waters to poach shark, have been intercepted by a state fisheries vessel.

After local fisherman spotted one boat 100 nautical miles north from Cape Leveque, 2229km from Perth, yesterday, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) requested the WA fisheries patrol vessel Walcott respond.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17554190-29277,00.html

TWENTY illegal Indonesian fisherman caught aboard a boat in waters off the north of Western Australia are being questioned in Broome.

Customs Coastwatch district manager Peter Costantino said the boat, believed to have been in Australian waters to poach trochus shell, was spotted 30 nautical miles northwest of Browse Island, near Broome, by a customs aircraft on Sunday afternoon.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17609515-29277,00.html

MORE than 50 Indonesian fishermen have been detained and brought to Broome for questioning, suspected of illegally fishing in Australian waters.

The fisherman were apprehended at Ashmore Reef, in northern West Australia, with six of the seven boats suspected of collecting sea cucumber delicacy, trepang, reports said.

The other boat allegedly had shark fin on board.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17609540-29277,00.html

A MAN and woman are due to face a Tasmanian court later this afternoon to face a charge of possessing more than 50 times the legal limit of abalone.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17620066-29277,00.html

AUSTRALIA and Indonesia have agreed on new measures to fight illegal fishing, including joint patrols and an investigation to determine the involvement of organised crime.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17632858-23109,00.html

THE Australian Navy has apprehended three illegal fishing boats north of Darwin and taken the boats and crews to Darwin.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17642067-29277,00.html

TWO men suspected of stealing rock lobsters from pots off the Perth coast face potential long jail sentences and a fine amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17727230-29277,00.html

A GROUP of 16 illegal Indonesian fisherman have been jailed in Broome with 41 others detained for questioning.

The 16 were sentenced to terms ranging from four to 10 months in Broome Magistrate's Court after their fishing vessel was intercepted last week.

On board was about 2,500kg of valuable trochus shells which Department of Fisheries acting northern region manager Tim Nicholas described a significant amount.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1542444.htm

The Indonesian captains of 11 fishing vessels are likely to spend up to three-and-a-half months in jail because they can not pay fines that have been imposed by a Perth court.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17745247-29277,00.html

ANOTHER Indonesian boat has been seized and its crew of 25 arrested after being caught illegally fishing off the coast of Broome.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18156202-29277,00.html

SIX Indonesian boats had been caught poaching in the Torres Strait off north Queensland, Customs said today.

The vessels and a total of 52 crew had been stopped illegally fishing in the past four days in the area near Raine Island.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18166477-29277,00.html

THE biggest illegal fishing vessel caught in Australia's northern waters steamed into Darwin today under guard from navy patrol boat HMAS Dubbo.

The 75m foreign vessel Chen Long – carrying 639 tonnes of mostly reef fish and 18 crew believed to be Chinese – was suspected of being a "mother ship" for illegal fishing, federal Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz said.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18223814-29277,00.html

ANOTHER four foreign fishing vessels had been caught in Australian waters since the weekend, authorities said today.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18486718-1702,00.html

FIVE men have been charged over the seizure of more than 100 illegally harvested abalone on the NSW south coast.

Police chased two men when they came out of the water at Black Head, near Gerroa, allegedly carrying 101 of the valuable shellfish. They were arrested shortly after.
Three other men allegedly carrying diving gear were then arrested in the car park.

A 27-year-old Nowra man, 24-year-old Kemblawarra man, 28-year-old Warilla man, 34-year-old Barrack Heights man and 27-year-old Albion Park man were taken to Wollongong police station for questioning.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18938434-29277,00.html

TWO foreign fishing boats were destroyed by Customs officers in north Australian waters today and their crew of 16 illegal fishermen have been detained.

The Customs patrol boat Corio Bay was sent to the Gulf of Carpentaria after locals reported illegal fishermen in the area.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19083841-29277,00.html

COMMERCIAL fishermen have welcomed the Federal Government's $389 million funding to crack down on illegal fishing in Australia's northern waters.

The extra funding over four years will bolster surveillance efforts, including setting up a new network of Aboriginal rangers to help track down boats hiding in inland waterways.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19244941-29277,00.html

FOREIGN crews fishing illegally in Australian waters close to the coast will be subject to jail terms under changes announced by the Federal Government.

But the measures are likely to snare only a fraction of illegal operators, with international law stopping the Government from applying the harsher penalties to poachers plundering stocks any more than 12 nautical miles from the coast.

Federal Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz said the Government would introduce a bill providing jail terms of up to three years and increased fines up to $825,000 to deter the growing armada of fish poachers in Australia's northern waters.

Illegal operators currently were jailed for token periods and only after failing to pay a fine, Senator Abetz said.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19262567-29277,00.html

THE Federal Government has welcomed a court ruling that substantial fines should be handed to foreigners found illegally fishing in Australian waters.

The ruling by the South Australian Supreme Court sets a precedent for fines issued to future illegal fishers and comes after an Adelaide magistrate last month caused outrage by fining three Indonesian fishermen just $5 each.

"(Supreme Court) Chief Justice (John Doyle) has clearly indicated that this was wrong, and has indicated to magistrates in South Australia that the appropriate fine for offences of this kind was one of at least $4,000."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19293038-29277,00.html

NINETEEN Indonesian men have been caught in two alleged illegal fishing boats off Western Australia's north coast.

The boats were spotted on the weekend by a Coastwatch aerial patrol, a Customs spokesman said today.

Both boats were destroyed at sea.

More than 400 people from 45 illegal fishing vessels have been processed in Broome since November, the Customs spokesman said.

Last week, 13 Indonesian fishermen were jailed for seven months each after pleading guilty in a Broome court to using a foreign boat for fishing in WA waters.

The ship's master was jailed for an additional two months after also pleading guilty to being in control of a foreign boat equipped with fishing gear in state waters.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19395760-29277,00.html

ILLEGAL fishing in Australian waters was a serious threat to the nation's fish stocks, ecosystems and quarantine status, a federal Labor taskforce has found.

"TWO men suspected of stealing rock lobsters from pots off the Perth coast face potential long jail sentences and a fine amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars."

What did end up happening to Terry Whatsisname that played a few games of footy? Last I heard they were just curious as to what was under the bouy. Did they get prosecuted or is there a different rule for the rich and famous?

no idea mate, let us know if you find out

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19816684-29277,00.html

AUTHORITIES will destroy 4300kg of reef fish found on board a fleet of suspected illegal Indonesian fishing vessels off Australia's north coast.

The seven boats, and their 67 crew, are expected to arrive in Darwin under naval escort tomorrow morning, when fisheries officers will begin their investigations.

http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,19814925-31037,00.html

THE NSW Government will step up a statewide crackdown on the seafood black market to try to stamp out product substitution and incorrect labelling.

Almost 300 restaurants, seafood retailers, wholesalers, processors and commercial fisheries were checked by the Department of Primary Industries and the NSW Food Authority during a three-month operation which has just concluded.

Mr McDonald described the 255 offences recorded, mostly for product substitution or incorrect labelling, as relatively few, but said it was still "not good enough".

Mr McDonald said some of the offences included labelling vannamei prawns as king prawns and Chinese scallops as Tasmanian scallops, and selling imported basa fillet, or catfish, as perch or jewfish.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,19950007-1702,00.html

THE Victorian Government has moved to curb the poaching of abalone by reducing bag limits for recreational fishers.

Fisheries minister Bob Cameron said Fisheries Victoria had reduced the recreational abalone daily bag limit from 10 to five in the west and east of the state to reduce abalone theft.

Huh ????
How the hell does decreasing recs bag limitrs stop illegal poaching ??????

a theif is a theif is a theif is a theif.

Once again, the honest ones are punished ( stupidly in this case ) for the actions of others

Maybe they make several trips a day and bag out each time.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1724186.htm

The Department of Fisheries says steep fines handed out to two fish poachers near Mildura will serve as a deterrent.

Father and son William and Anthony Lever were caught selling about 850 kilograms of wild-caught murray cod in the Melbourne market.