{"id":254027,"date":"2026-01-27T11:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T11:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254027\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T11:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T11:05:09","slug":"foreign-fishermen-enter-queensland-island-resort-before-border-force-intercept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254027\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign fishermen enter Queensland island resort before border force intercept"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of men land on a Far North Queensland island resort. They walk up to the bar and ask whether they have any refreshments.<\/p>\n

The interaction would not be out of the ordinary, except the men are an alleged group of foreign fishermen, who are seemingly increasingly being seen in the region.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage from Roko Island cameras shared with the ABC shows the interaction on January 14.<\/p>\n

\"several<\/p>\n

Mabuiag Island residents say there has been an influx of illegal fishing boats. (Supplied: Mabuiag Island resident)<\/p>\n

The men were given water and later reboarded their boat before being intercepted by border force near the mainland.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ned David, chair of the Gur A Baradharaw Kod Torres Strait Sea and Land Council (GBK), said multiple boat arrivals since have highlighted how porous Australia’s northern border could be.<\/p>\n

“People are concerned, people are nervous, people are scared,” said Mr David.<\/p>\n

“We’re the only border of this country to another sovereign nation. We’re the only border that’s 40,000 miles of sea country, and it’s quite porous.”<\/p>\n

\"Face<\/p>\n

Ned David says the boat arrivals prove how porous the border is. (ABC Far North: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

His comments come as a suspected foreign vessel was photographed by residents landing on Mabuiag Island, further north, amid criticisms from the Torres Strait Shire Council about a “lack of urgency” from authorities in relation to a “surge in illegal foreign vessels”.<\/p>\n

Shark fins seized<\/p>\n

The Australian Border Force (ABF) intercepted four foreign vessels and their crews for allegedly fishing illegally in Torres Strait waters on Saturday.<\/p>\n

After receiving reports from the community, an ABF vessel intercepted the Indonesian boats near Turnagain Island.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

The ABF intercepted four Indonesian fishing vessels on January 24. (Supplied: ABF)<\/p>\n

Fishing equipment and 38 shark fins were seized.<\/p>\n

It is understood ABF officers seized and escorted two vessels and all crew out of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, and plan to destroy the remaining two vessels.<\/p>\n

“The Australian Border Force, through Maritime Border Command, is committed to protecting our vulnerable marine resources and delicate ecosystems through the targeting of illegal foreign fishing in Australian waters,” an ABF spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

Four Indonesian vessels photographed by the ABF. (Supplied: ABF)<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said members of the public were “important extra eyes and ears” to monitor suspicious activity in the region.<\/p>\n

“We thank the Torres Strait community for reporting the sightings and encouraged others to continue to pass on suspicious activities,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Concerned residents<\/p>\n

Mayor Elsie Seriat said the council had been contacted by residents concerned that the boats were not being detected.<\/p>\n

“I find these incidents extremely worrying for our region and will be pursuing answers at every level,” Cr Seriat said.<\/p>\n

Boigu Island resident Salome Toby said she was on a flight home from Mabuiag Island on Friday when she spotted up to nine boats from the air.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

She said she was familiar with foreign boats from Papua New Guinea, but she had not seen the variety that appeared to be anchored near a reef near Turnagain Island.<\/p>\n

“We saw that they were different, so we were shocked,” Ms Toby said.<\/p>\n

“We saw eight to nine boats, and probably there was more to our west side over to the one side.”<\/p>\n

It is the third high-profile incident where boats have allegedly been spotted by residents on the Torres Strait so far this year.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Earlier in January, the ABF intercepted the first foreign fishing vessel 100 metres from the mainland. (Supplied: Claire Watson)<\/p>\n

The alleged sighting comes a week after another foreign boat was intercepted by the ABF 100 metres from the Australian mainland.<\/p>\n

A second boat was filmed by a resident around Prince of Wales Island, about 19 kilometres south of Thursday Island, days later.<\/p>\n

“I’m so concerned for the community,” Ms Toby said.<\/p>\n

“I mean, we travel that way towards [Thursday Island], I’m so scared to, like, if we bump into them, we don’t know what will happen.”<\/p>\n

Involving the community<\/p>\n

Mr David said the sightings could be “just the tip of the iceberg” and called for residents on islands in the Torres Strait to be more heavily involved in patrolling the region.<\/p>\n

\"several<\/p>\n

One illegal fishing boat recently ran aground on Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait. (Supplied: Mabuiag Island resident)<\/p>\n

“What other boats are out there? What else is coming through?” Mr David said.<\/p>\n

“There could be threats to the agricultural industry of this country, there could be drugs. You name it.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to use the people on the ground. You’ve got to use the intelligence on the ground.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of men land on a Far North Queensland island resort. They walk up to the bar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[140555,140554,273,140553,147017,147016,111,139,69,147,147018],"class_list":{"0":"post-254027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-australian-border-force","9":"tag-boat-arrival","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-foreign-boat","12":"tag-illegal-foreign-fisher","13":"tag-indonesia-fishers","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-torres-strait-island"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}