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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. He said this included up to 270 tonnes of the fish that might have been caught illegally in Australian waters.
The Panama-registered, steel-hulled freighter was ordered to Darwin after being intercepted north-west of Cape Wessels, off the Northern Territory coast, on Sunday by HMAS Dubbo.
"This vessel is a carrier vessel, as such it takes on ... catch from other fishing boats," Peter Veslovas, Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) senior manager for foreign operations, said.
"Essentially, this boat is a large freezer vessel and basically once its holds are full, it would then proceed to the relevant port for unloading."
AFMA officers boarded the boat early this morning, and quarantine officials joined them soon after the Chen Long‘s arrival in Darwin Harbour about 9am (CST).
"The crew will be taken off the boat and held in the immigration facility in Darwin where our investigations will be conducted," Mr Veslovas said.
"Our suspicions at the moment relate to the potential for this, or the possibility that this boat may have been engaged in illegal activities inside the Australian Fishing Zone."
Mr Veslovas said it was possible the vessel might have been operating in conjunction with boats operating on the northern side of the Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ).
"Certainly, the fact that it is a mother ship suggests that there might be an increasing effort (to fish) on the northern side of the AFZ in Indonesian waters," he said.
"But our business is to ensure that these boats don‘t venture into Australian waters and fish illegally.
"We are treating this matter very seriously.
"It‘s our highest priority at the moment, our officers ... are out there on the boat as we speak, and we will deal with this matter expeditiously."
The Royal Australian Navy said the foreign crew did not put up any resistance when intercepted by the HMAS Dubbo., but its sailors had other problems to deal with.
"We ... had to manage other things like the fatigue of people on board, because it takes a large number of your crew to actually manage a vessel this size," Commander Northern Command Campbell Darby said.
"They actually had to tow it (the Chen Long) for two days, which wasn‘t an easy task because the vessel broke down not long after we boarded it.
"They then, with the assistance of some of the crew, managed to get the engines going, and then it steamed under its own power for the next 24 hours, so they actually did a fantastic job." Source:
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