Illegal fishers slip away in uncharted waters in the Torres Strait

Debra Jopson Sydney Morning Herald 6 Dec 10;

Substantial stretches of Torres Strait waters are uncharted or only partially surveyed, making it impossible for Australian authorities to chase away illegal fishers, according to the Senate's latest report on the region.

It is standard operating procedure not to sail into uncharted waters. This means some people fishing unlawfully in Australian territory can evade authorities, the chief executive of border enforcement of Customs and Border Protection, Marion Grant, told a parliamentary committee inquiring into the Torres Strait.

In these straits, where the sea sustains the people, illegal fishing is a sore point for the locals.

Their leaders told the Senate's foreign affairs, defence and trade references committee shark fin is being harvested illegally, turtles and dugongs netted and trapped for commercial sale, and beche-de-mer is being taken even though it is protected in the strait.

''On the Australian side, it is illegal to sell sea cows; on the PNG side it is commercialised,'' a local mayor, Fred Gela, said.

The chairman of the Torres Strait Regional Authority, Toshie Kris, said locals had seen foreign fishing vessels around one of the northernmost islands, Boigu, where Customs had difficulty operating.

During a tour of the Horn Island detention centre for illegal fishers, Professor Glen Hurry of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority told Senate committee members the number of people caught fishing illegally had dropped considerably. Dugong and turtle were usually caught for ceremonies such as tombstone openings, he said.

The committee was not convinced the problem had been solved. "Although the number of illegal fishers in the Torres Strait has declined in recent years, illegal fishing remains a significant maritime security risk to the region," its report said.

It called on the federal government to provide the funds needed to speed up the charting, giving priority to the waters around the northernmost islands, Saibai and Boigu.

The Department of Defence said the navy planned to complete a hydrographic survey of the area in the next few years.