{"id":550854,"date":"2026-03-19T15:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550854\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:58:12","slug":"years-of-enforcement-fail-to-stop-australias-illegal-fishing-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550854\/","title":{"rendered":"Years of enforcement fail to stop Australia’s illegal fishing problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

A resurgence of illegal fishing in northern Australian waters is being driven by a complex mix of economic, social, cultural and pandemic-related factors that enforcement measures alone cannot address, new research to emerge from the Charles Darwin University has found.<\/p>\n

Funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and co-developed by Indonesia\u2019s National Research and Innovation Agency, and Nusa Cendana University, the study has examined the drivers of illegal small-scale fishing incursions into the Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) \u2013 the area covering waters from three to 200 nautical miles off the Australian coast.<\/p>\n

Illegal Indonesian fishing in the zone has been a persistent issue for five decades. Some 361 boats were apprehended in the 2005\u201306 financial year. Despite sustained government investment in surveillance and enforcement, incursions have risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 337 boats intercepted in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

By January 2025, 172 vessels had already been intercepted in the current financial year.<\/p>\n

Fieldwork conducted across four communities in Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, eastern Indonesia, identified seven broad categories of behavioural driver: economic and livelihood pressures, COVID-19 related factors, psychological motivations, environmental conditions, cultural and historical ties, social dynamics, and policy and management responses. Within those seven categories, researchers identified a further 28 individual drivers.<\/p>\n

Professor Natasha Stacey, Professor of Environmental Science at CDU and leader of the research team, said the drivers frequently overlap.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, during COVID-19, economic hardship among fishing communities increased,\u201d Professor Stacey said. \u201cHowever, financial difficulties alone are not sufficient to entirely explain the strong resurgence of illegal fishing, which was likely prompted by a combination of financial hardship, the discovery of new fishing grounds abundant in sea cucumber, and willing patrons to support such ventures into the AFZ.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research also incorporated perspectives from women in affected communities, examining the risks and impacts associated with male relatives engaging in illegal fishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen research participants expressed that the limited employment or other livelihood options for their menfolk in their communities is a motivating factor to fish in the AFZ,\u201d Professor Stacey said.<\/p>\n

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