"Navy catches alleged illegal fishing mother ship

Fisheries minister Eric Abetz says the Navy has caught a 75 metre boat believed to be acting as a mother ship to other vessels illegally fishing in Australian waters.

Navy patrol boat HMAS Dubbo apprehended the steel hulled freighter Chen Long north-west of the Wessel Islands in the Northern Territory yesterday.

There were allegedly more than 600 tonnes of fish on board.

Senator Abetz says the freighter may have been acting as a mother ship, but no smaller vessels were caught.

"It'd be nice to be able to apprehend absolutely every boat," he said.

"The fact that we have apprehended a vessel about which we have certain suspicious, a 75 metre vessel, I think that is a major breakthrough but let's wait and see what the facts actually disclose."

Senator Abetz says the boat's 18 crew members are thought to be of Chinese origin.

"At the end of the day, the origin of the crew is not all that important other than it may potentially tell us where the operators are emanating from," he said.

"But of course the vessel is flagged, as I understand it, to Panama, with a Panamanian flag."

The boat and its crew are being brought to Darwin and are expected to arrive later this week."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1568910.htm

600 tonnes of fish being raped from our northern borders and we the recreational angler are still being targeted for marine parks and no fishing zones. Must stop commenting now before I get well and truly angry, its just so good that they got caught!