Australia will deploy extra patrol boats and armed officials in remote northern waters to crack down on illegal fishing and strengthen border security amid a deadly outbreak of bird flu in neighbouring Indonesia, Reuters reported. Canberra is to spend A$88 million ($67 million) on four new patrol boats and more than 50 additional customs and fisheries officers so more illegal fishing crews can be arrested, their vessels seized and the cases brought before Australian courts. At present patrol boats sometimes only seize the catch and the fishing gear from foreign boats in Australian waters and allow the vessels to go, Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald said on Tuesday. He said a record 160 foreign fishing vessels had been apprehended in Australia's northern waters so far this year and the new arrangements would allow Australian authorities to detain more illegal fishermen and process them more quickly. "We are serious about border protection, serious about protection of our fish stocks, serious about the environmental concerns and serious about protecting everything that's Australian," Macdonald told reporters. In a joint announcement with Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison, Macdonald said illegal fishermen would be brought to the northern city of Darwin and transferred to detention centres in Western Australia and South Australia states. --More 2324 Local Time 2024 GMT
