Indonesian fisherman dies in Darwin custody

Indonesian fisherman dies in Darwin custody

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Sydney, Australia

An Indonesian fisherman charged with poaching has died while in custody on a boat in Darwin, Northern Territory police said on Friday.

The death of the 37-year-old, the master of a boat caught fishing illegally in Australian waters last week, is not considered suspicious.

The man is the second Indonesian fisherman to die while detained on a boat in a quarantined area of the harbor in the past two years. In 2003, 21-year-old Mansur La Ibu died while in custody with six others.

Australia is currently conducting its biggest-ever crackdown on poaching by Indonesian fishing vessels. So far this month Operation Clearwater has resulted in the arrest of 240 crew and the impounding of 27 boats.

Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald said poaching was turning from a cottage industry into a well-organized criminal activity. "It is very big," Macdonald said. "It's become increasingly transnational in its form as our intelligence is discovering."

He appealed to Jakarta to crackdown on vessels straying into Australian waters.

"Regrettably it's not an area of policy where the Indonesian government, given all of its other priorities, is able to give this the priority perhaps that we would like," he said.

The boats, which go after shark fin and reef fish, are equipped with sophisticated navigational gear and global positioning systems. When the boats are apprehended the captains and senior fishing masters are arrested and charged while the crew are taken to the airport and repatriated. The boats are impounded and then sunk or sold for scrap.