{"id":551442,"date":"2026-01-29T11:27:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/551442\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T11:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:27:19","slug":"never-seen-magnitude-of-foreign-vessels-in-far-north-queensland-as-government-defends-border-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/551442\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Never seen magnitude’ of foreign vessels in Far North Queensland, as government defends border security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Torres Strait Island leaders say federal government claims of strong border protections do not match what communities are seeing on their doorstep in Queensland’s far north.<\/p>\n

In the past two weeks, at least five alleged Indonesian fishing vessels have been intercepted by Australian Border Force (ABF) in the Torres Strait Islands.<\/p>\n

And CCTV vision has revealed a group of men walking into a resort bar on Roko Island<\/a>, one of the smallest islands in the Torres Strait in Far North Queensland.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking on Thursday at a press conference in Cairns, pointed to what he said was “record funding” to tackle the problem of illegal foreign fishing.<\/p>\n

“Oh, we have increased funding and increased resources and increased surveillance as well,” the prime minister said.<\/p>\n

“Our message to illegal foreign fishers is really simple, we’ll intercept you, you’ll lose your catch, your equipment and possibly your vessel as well.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He said two operations, Leedstrum and Lunar, were already targeting illegal fishing across northern Australia.<\/p>\n

The former was launched in 2023 to target boats in northern WA<\/a>, while the latter was launched in 2024 for the NT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended his government’s investment in border security. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

“That has never happened before in history, a joint operation we’ve set up to address foreign fishing. Didn’t happen under the former government,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This is something that’s a scourge and must be said right around the world as well \u2026 our waters should be for our industry and that’s important.”<\/p>\n

Torres Strait Island Regional Council Mayor Phillemon Mosby said those assurances did not reflect local reality.<\/p>\n

“We have never seen it to this magnitude ever before,” Mr Mosby said.<\/p>\n

\"Torres<\/p>\n

\u00a0Phillemon Mosby says locals need to be better equipped to tackle fishing threats. (ABC News: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

“We have seen, in the recent 18 months, an escalation of illegal foreign fishing and border breaches.”<\/p>\n

He said recent sightings were only the visible tip of a much larger problem which Torres Strait Islanders could see on their doorstep.<\/p>\n

‘Nothing left for our people’<\/p>\n

Recent boats have been detected from Turnagain Island down to waters near the Cape York Peninsula<\/a>, on Queensland’s most northern tip, 1,000 kilometres north of Cairns.<\/p>\n

At least two vessels reached shore and were filmed by locals<\/a>, including men who walked into a resort bar.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

There have been five ABF interceptions (marked red) and two other sightings (marked black) in the Torres Strait since January 14. (Datawrapper)<\/p>\n

Other suspected boats have also been recorded by community members.<\/p>\n

“If you have this magnitude of illegal fishing and foreign incursions occurring \u2026 It’s making us question, what is in place? Is it working?” Mr Mosby said.<\/p>\n

“Do we have the right amount of investment or either security or infrastructure to manage the border that needs that level of protection?”<\/p>\n

He said island residents felt increasingly unsafe.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“They are more concerned about their safety and their security now than ever before,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Mosby said breaches by Papua New Guinea fishers were also increasing.<\/p>\n

Illegal fishing, he said, threatened both people’s livelihoods and culture.<\/p>\n

“This is not just about safety and security of people \u2014 This is about the preservation of our culture.”<\/p>\n

“This is the preservation of our marine resources \u2026 what sustains my people living in the islands.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"several<\/p>\n

Locals on Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait say there has been a recent influx of illegal fishing boats and it is having a detrimental impact on the island community. (Supplied: Mabuiag Island resident)<\/p>\n

Alongside other leaders, Mr Mosby said the government needed to get serious about equipping locals to protect themselves and the borders.<\/p>\n

“What we need is real commitment for coordinated action to protect our island communities, sea country, our local livelihood.”<\/p>\n

“If our marine resources are overfished, there’s nothing left here for my people.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Biosecurity and environmental risks<\/p>\n

On January 24, 38 shark fins were seized by the ABF from four boats near Turnagain Island.<\/p>\n

No charges have been laid and all crew members were escorted out of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone.<\/p>\n

Australian Marine Conservation Society program manager Kim Riskas said the scale of illegal fishing was alarming.<\/p>\n

She pointed out two main drivers for the incursion: depleted stocks in Indonesian waters and high overseas prices for catch.<\/p>\n

“So essentially the pay-off is worth the risk of coming to Australia,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

Four Indonesian vessels photographed by ABF. (Supplied: ABF)<\/p>\n

She said illegal catches undermined sustainable management and law-abiding local Australian fishers.<\/p>\n

“It’s incredibly concerning because these catches are essentially unreported catch,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Fisheries can’t do their job if they don’t know how much catch is coming out of the water.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority said illegal fishing posed major environmental and biosecurity risks.<\/p>\n

“Australia’s well managed fisheries and highly protected marine parks are an attractive choice for illegal foreign fishers,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“Illegal fishing poses a range of significant maritime and biosecurity risks which can have serious implications for our marine environment.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The ABF did not respond to questions on whether surveillance would be increased in northern Queensland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Torres Strait Island leaders say federal government claims of strong border protections do not match what communities are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":551443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,2064,53189,241964,241963,50,241965],"class_list":{"0":"post-551442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-border-security","10":"tag-foreign-fishers","11":"tag-illegal-foreign-fishing","12":"tag-indonesian-fishers","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-torres-strait-islands"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115978151318305408","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}