Illegal fishing boats hiding on Kimberley coastline for over a month, according to local

Illegal fishing boats have been hiding in the Kimberley Coast’s dense marine vegetation for more than a month, according to the man who guided authorities to four boats moored off WA’s Kimberley coast. Local fishing tour operator Peter Tucker, who along with Dambimangari traditional owners guided the Navy to the four vessels hiding in Kuri Bay, 400 km north of Broome, on Tuesday. An Australian Border Force spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed it had intercepted the boats as part of the ongoing Operation Leedstrum. “A single vessel was interdicted and following further inquiries, another three foreign fishing vessels were found and interdicted,” the spokesperson said. Mr Tucker said he had seen the same boats nestled in mangles (mangrove forests) for the past six weeks. He said he had observed an increase in illegal fishing vessels since May and said authorities intercepted another boat one month ago. “Border Force came up here and managed to catch the boat we found a month ago,” he said. Mr Tucker has observed the sophisticated precautions the illegal fishermen use to avoid detection. “They have this coastline sussed,” he said “They find hiding spots in the mangles at night, and cut down branches of mangroves to put over their boat so they are camouflaged by air.” The fishermen are skilled tide trackers, fishing for prized sea cucumber during spring tides, and retreating into the mangles to hide during the neat tides, Mr Tucker said. “They then sneak around in the evening and go to the freshwater creeks to replenish their fresh water, I’ve seen them do it,” he said. He criticised the fishermen’s cavalier treatment of marine life saying they showed “scant respect” for the Kimberley coast. “They leave rubbish everywhere,” he said. “They basically rape the reef at low tide.” With the heavy risks associated with illegal fishing, Mr Tucker believes the fishermen’s incentive is financial, believing poor men were being paid by the Chinese to snatch sea cucumber. “Sea cucumber is a sought-after delicacy by the Chinese, and the Chinese back these fishermen to come to what is a very pristine waterway of sea cucumbers on the reef here,” he said. “It brings money to these poor fishermen from Rote or Sulawesi Island.” Mr Tucker criticised the Australian Border Force’s tactic of aerial search deeming it a “waste of time”. “You need to have on ground support and small vessels to get in amongst the mangroves,” he said. The tour operator is urging the ABF to work with the traditional owners of the Kuri Bay area to effectively catch illegal vessels. “You know you can’t bring a banana into Western Australia, but here we have illegal fishermen living on our coastline for months on end,” Mr Tucker said.