12 RI fishing boats held in Australia

12 RI fishing boats held in Australia

BROOME, Australia (AFP): Australian patrol boats have detained a dozen Indonesian fishing vessels with a total of 116 people aboard for allegedly operating in an offshore nature reserve, an official said yesterday.

The motorized Indonesian boats were detained in the Ashmore Reef area, a spokesman for the national customs service said.

He said the boats were spotted Thursday at the reef, a nature reserve about 610 kilometers north of here, and spotter aircraft and two patrol boats were sent.

The patrol boats were escorting 12 fishing craft with about 116 crew aboard to this northern port of Broome, he said

At the port, customs and other officials will "conduct further enquiries into possible breaches of Australian fisheries regulations," the spokesman added.

Ashmore Reef, covering 239 square kilometers, is reputed for its great variety of marine habitats including seagrass meadows, sandflats and lagoons.

More than 745 species of fish have been recorded at the reef where non-motorized Indonesian boats are allowed to engage in subsistence-type fishing.