Indonesian nationals busted fishing illegally in Territory waters

The court heard the men, who were caught with 20kg of shark fin, were busted fishing in Australian waters despite being warned off by Australian Border Force officers only a day earlier.

A group of Indonesian fishermen busted with 20kg of shark fin on their boat in Australian waters off the Territory coast has been sent packing with a series of good behaviour bonds.

The four men — named in court as Tasbar, 23, Samsudin, 19, Andi, 19 and Hamsah, 45 — each pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court last week to commercial fishing in the Australian Fishing Zone in December last year.

The court heard Australian Border Force officers intercepted the illicit vessel 2.75 nautical miles inside the AFZ boundary in the Timor Sea in the early hours of December 9.

On board the officers found 20kg of shark fin, 75 fishing hooks, three hand fishing lines and one spear as well as a fishing gaff and a diving mask and told the men to leave Australian waters.

A group of Indonesian fishermen leave the Darwin Local Court after pleading guilty to fishing illegally in Australian waters.

But the following day, ABF officers again found the men inside the AFZ boundary, this time 21.7 nautical miles inside the no go area with anchors, fish hooks and fishing line on board.

The four-man crew was transported into immigration detention in Darwin where the fishermen faced court last week.

In handing all four good behaviour bonds along with a mandatory $150 victims levy each, Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris said she took into account that they were subsistence fishers who “don’t have any money” and “would be unable to pay any fine”.

“I am concerned that you got a warning from the Border Force people and then the next day, instead of going away, you came closer to Australian waters,” she said.

“Australia is very protective of managing its fish stocks, we have a system of regulations and laws to ensure that places are not overfished and that we have enough fish to keep going in the future.

“If people fish as you have been doing without a licence then we’re not able to manage those fish stocks.”

Ms Morris said if the men stayed out of trouble for the next 12 months “that would be the end of the matter”.

“I also take into account that you’ve been unable to earn any money since you were detained by Australia from around the 10th of December,” she said.

“And while you have no complaints about how you have been detained, you would be homesick and missing your families, so I hope that part of your experience has been a lesson to you not to come into Australian waters again.”

Three other men, named in court as Ari, Sajo and Antonio, were also handed good behaviour bonds after pleading guilty to fishing illegally in waters off the coast of Western Australia.

Originally published as Indonesian nationals busted fishing illegally in Territory waters