Two green sea turtles have been freed from an abandoned fishing net through the combined efforts of officers from the Australian Border Force (ABF) and Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA).
Assistant Minister for Customs, Jason Wood said the operation was led by Maritime Border Command (MBC), a multi-Agency taskforce within the ABF and Australia’s lead civil maritime security authority.
Mr Wood said the operation highlighted the broad and exceptional range of work undertaken by the MBC, and the ABF.
“The net was retrieved by the ABF Cutter Cape St George, 170 nautical miles north of Darwin,” Mr Wood said.
“The nets retrieved were surface driftnets, which are prohibited for use in Australia,” he said.
“They were of a configuration that is not used by the Australian fishing industry.”
Mr Wood said that over the past five and a half years 28 abandoned and lost fishing nets, weighing an estimated 59.6 tonnes combined, had been located and retrieved from northern Australian waters.
“Lost and abandon fishing nets can cause significant distress to marine life,” the Minister said.
Deputy Commander of MBC, Claire Rees said abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing nets had the ability to entangle a large variety of marine creatures and birdlife.
“Often hundreds of creatures can be caught in a single net,” Deputy Commander Reese said.
