Image Gallery: April 2006
Operation Breakwater targets illegal fishing vessels
05 April 2006
A major air and sea operation targeting border incursions by foreign fishing boats off Australia’s northern coastline has netted 23 suspected illegal fishing vessels and 197 suspected illegal fishers whilst also trialling new ways of combating illegal fishing.
The Minister for Defence, Dr Brendan Nelson, Fisheries and Conservation Minister Senator Eric Abetz, and Justice and Customs Minister Senator Chris Ellison, said on 5 April 2006 that Operation Breakwater had been a highly successful, coordinated campaign.
The two-week surge operation, which began in March, was conducted in Australian waters off Cape Wessel in the Northern Territory and was managed by the Joint Offshore Protection Command.
Spearheading Operation Breakwater were the Customs patrol ship Oceanic Viking , Customs patrol boats Corio Bay and Roebuck Bay, Navy patrol boats HMAS Armidale, HMAS Fremantle, and HMAS Ipswich, and the heavy landing craft HMAS Balikpapan.
Coastwatch and the Royal Australian Air Force provided aerial surveillance aircraft, and officers from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, and Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs provided support on the ground and at sea.
Read joint ministerial media release
| 20060321ran8100087_001 Able Seaman Boatswains Mate Rice secures a line on HMAS Ipswich as the patrol boat departs from Darwin. (Date taken: 21 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060321ran8100087_007 Able Seaman Communications and Informations Systems Jet Slater on the flying bridge of HMAS Ipswich. (Date taken: 21 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060321ran8100087_010 Lieutenant Commander Grogan, Commanding Officer HMAS Ipswich. (Date taken: 21 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060321ran8100087_016 HMAS Armidale as she leaves Darwin harbour on Operation Breakwater. (Date taken: 21 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060321ran8100087_022 HMAS Armidale as she leaves Darwin Harbour on Operation Breakwater. (Date taken: 21 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060321ran8100087_034 HMAS Fremantle as she leaves Darwin Harbour on Operation Breakwater. (Date taken: 21 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060321ran8100087_041 HMAS Fremantle as she sails out of Darwin Harbour under Operation Breakwater. (Date taken: 21 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060322ran8100087_008 A rigid-hulled inflatable boat from the patrol boat HMAS Ipswich returns from landing a boarding party on a foreign fishing trawler apprehended inside the Australia Fishing Zone. (Date taken: 22 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
| 20060322ran8100087_014 A boarding party from the patrol boat HMAS Ipswich boards a foreign fishing trawler apprehended inside the Australia Fishing Zone. (Date taken: 22 March 2006) Low-res | High-res |
 |
