AUSTRALIA: Navy fires on 'illegal' foreign fishing boat
Updated
The Australian Navy has fired on a foreign fishing boat in the northern waters of Australia. The machine gun fire holed the boat above the waterline. The Defence Minister says the incident shows the tougher approach Australia is taking to foreign boats fishing in its exclusive economic zone.
Presenter: Graeme Dobell
Speakers: Australia's Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson
DOBELL: Australia's Defence Minister last year ordered stronger rules of engagement to back his tougher language about dealing with fishing boats illegally entering Australia's waters. Brendan Nelson says the new rules mean the Navy can now fire on boats that do not respond to warnings from an Australian Navy vessel.
NELSON: I asked the Chief of Defence to review and strengthen the rules of engagement for the Royal Australian Navy. As a result of that our Navy is now able to do everything from the use of tear gas and very loud birdstrike sounds through to direct firing on vessels.
DOBELL: And for the first time, the Navy has used those new rules of engagement to fire on a fishing vessel inside the 200 mile exclusive economic zone in northern Australian waters. Dr Nelson said says the Navy fired on the foreign vessel after it tried to ram the Australian Navy ship.
NELSON: We have in recent weeks fired directly upon at least one vessel. I'm not prepared to say where they vessel came from, but it has not been seen in Australian waters since.
Those people to who come to Australia who want to steal our fish and breach our exclusive economic zone need to know that we're not going to muck about. The Royal Australian Navy is very serious in protecting our borders. The men and women who look after our naval patrol boats deserve the full support of the Australian Government in the important and dangerous work they undertake. In at least one incident the large steel hulled foreign fishing vessel sought to ram the Royal Australian Navy patrol boat, missiles were thrown including machetes at Australian sailors and the Chief of Defence phoned me and asked me if they could undertake direct fire and I said, yes they most certainly can.
DOBELL:
The Defence Minister says the Australian Navy ship ran through an escalating set of warnings and demands before firing its machine gun.
NELSON: It's an escalatory response, so it begins with a warning through a loud hailer. The first thing that these people hear is 'this is an Australian warship'. Then, if they do not comply, then there is rifle fire firing across the bows, a range of escalatory measures and direct fire is the last thing that is used.
DOBELL:
Dr Nelson says the ship fleeing Australian waters was hit by the machine gun fire, but he says the lives of the foreign seamen were not at risk.
NELSON: There were a number of holes that were put into this vessel above the water line. The vessel then… the vessel escaped from the Australian exclusive economic zone and has not been seen in Australian waters since. I'm advised that no one was captured or rescued and I'm also advised that at no stage was there any threat to the wellbeing or lives of those people who were on board this vessel.
DOBELL:
There's speculation the ship fired on was an Indonesia fishing vessel - most of the fishing boats seized off northern Australia have been from Indonesia. And there were protests from Jakarta last year when Australia announced that the rules of engagement were being changed to allow direct fire on fishing boats that did not stop when hailed. The Defence Minister won't state the flag of the vessel fired on and the Indonesian embassy in Canberra says it's not aware of any incident. Dr Nelson:
NELSON:
People need to understand and anyone that's watched Sea Patrol knows what our guys are doing up there in the north. People need to know that the Royal Australian Navy's got a very important and difficult job to do. Most of these foreign fishing vessels - when they're told that there is an Australian warship that's trying to stop them - most of these vessels actually stop and comply. Some of them don't, but some of them behave most aggressively. They are large steel hulled vessels. They endanger the lives and wellbeing of our sailors and we are not going to muck about. In the end if tear gas and all of the other things we use don't work, they will be fired directly upon.
