By
Michael Brooke
As Navy officers were celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Nelson’s
victory over the French Armada at the Battle of Trafalgar, the
Maritime Commander Australia was toasting the Navy’s success
against an armada of Foreign Fishing Vessels (FFVs) plundering
Australia’s maritime resources.
RADM Davyd Thomas said the Navy’s Fremantle class patrol
boats and the first of the new Armidale class patrol boats had
struck a significant blow against the fleet of (FFVs) operating
in Australian territorial waters.
“The Navy has been doing a pretty good job against the FFVs
in recent times, and it’s a success story that’s only
going to get better when more state-of-the-art Armidale class
patrol boats are commissioned,” he told a meeting of Navy
officers at Fleet Base East on October 20.
RADM Thomas said the new Armidale class of patrol boat would make
a significant contribution to ongoing operations.
‘It was only our second day in operation and we’ve already
achieved two boardings, which is indicative of the increased numbers
of these FFVs and their commitment to fish illegally in Australian
waters.’
– LCDR Andrew Maher MCAUST
said 12 Armidale class patrol boats would soon spearhead Navy
operations against illegal FFVs, with HMAS Armidale already conducting
Op Cranberry patrols, while NUSHIP Bathurst and NUSHIP Larrakia
were launched recently and would soon join the hunt.
HMAS Armidale (LCDR Andrew Maher) made an immediate impact on
its first Op Cranberry patrol by apprehending one FFV, and assisting
in the apprehension of another, that resisted the boarding efforts
by a Customs Boat, Roebuck Bay.
“It was only our second day in operation and we’ve already
achieved two boardings, which is indicative of the increased numbers
of these FFVs and their commitment to fish illegally in Australian
waters,” LCDR Maher said.
Armidale had sprinted to the assistance of Roebuck Bay north of
the Northern Territory’s Wessel Islands in the Arafura Sea
to corner an Indonesian-flagged ice-boat that was found to contain
50 tonnes of shark fin.
LCDR Maher said the size of HMAS Armidale and the extra force
they were able to demonstrate intimidated the FFV crew and quickly
convinced them to surrender.
As part of Op Cranberry the ADF contributes around 1800 days of
patrol and surveillance activity annually in Australian coastal
waters.
Along with Armidale’s success on Op Cranberry, several other
RAN patrol boats were making a contribution to Operation Clearwater
II, which Commander Northern Command, CDRE Cam Darby said “produced
substantial results in the protection of Australian sovereign
resources”.
“Thirty-seven boardings were conducted and thirty-one boats
and 187 foreign crew were apprehended, and, a further 15 boats
were simultaneously apprehended outside of the Op Clearwater area,”
he said.
“This adds up to a substantial impact on illegal fishing
activity.”
A range of other RAN patrol boats also participated in the FFV
operation including HMA Ships Ipswich, Bunbury and Bendigo and
landing craft HMAS Balikpapan.
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