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AB
Hoade and LS Drew with a member of the Army detachment aboard
the Illegal fisher as the RHIB makes for a new contact.
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In
early September HMAS Wollongong (LCDR Stephen Thompson) sailed
from Darwin on only her second fisheries enforcement patrol of
the year.
With the crew looking forward to a change in operations after
extended periods conducting border protection patrols, Wollongong
made her way to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Encountering heavy seas as the ship cleared the sheltered waters
of the Van Dieman Gulf provided an introduction to life in the
Fremantles for the Army detachment embarked for a week of training.
Early in September the ship received a call from a Coastwatch
surveillance flight advising of Indonesian fishing boats operating
within the Australian Fisheries Zone.
At dawn next day Wollongong made a contact inside the AFZ. The
pipe “Hands to boarding stations” quickly roused the
crew. At sunrise the vessel, an Indonesian shark boat was sighted
and a boarding party was inserted.
As the boarding progressed, another contact was detected some
eight miles away.
Leaving a holding team comprising LS Dew and AB Hoade plus two
Army personnel in the shark boat, Wollongong made her way to investigate
the second contact.
Word came back from the Australian Fisheries Management Agency
that Wollongong was to apprehend the vessels. The Army detachment
was to get an introduction to boarding an illegal fishing boat
as it formed part of the steaming party that would be embarked
as the vessels were escorted back to Darwin.
Wollongong handed over custody of the vessels maintaining her
record of six days on fisheries patrol and five apprehensions,
a one hundred per cent record that she intends to maintain.
