Coalition Pledges to Crack Down on Illegal Foreign Fishing

The Coalition said it would review the fishing regulator and relevant task forces to ensure their capability to crack down on illegal fishing activities.

An Australian customs patrol boat board a suspected illegal fishing boat near Darwin, Australia, on April 7, 2006. Australian Customs Service/Getty Images

The Coalition has promised to clamp down on illegal foreign fishing to protect the local industry if it wins the May federal election.

This comes amid a significant increase in such activities off Australia’s coast in recent years.

In its election plan to support Australian fisheries, the Coalition criticised the Labor government for allegedly allowing illegal fishing to flourish under its watch.

“These fishing operations often result in illegally harvested fish being sold into Australian markets with no economic benefit flowing back to the communities across Australia that depend on the fishing industry for economic life,” the plan read.

It also stated that if elected, a Coalition government led by Peter Dutton would review Operation Lunar, a task force aimed at enhancing surveillance and enforcement against illegal foreign fishing in the Northern Territory, and related biosecurity activities undertaken by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and Australian Border Force.

This is to ensure that these agencies have the capability to crack down on illegal fishing occurring in Australian waters.

“We will seek to prosecute illegal fishers onshore where appropriate,” the plan read.

A recent government outlook report forecasted that the value of Australian fisheries and aquaculture production would reach around $3.56 billion (US$2.14 billion) in the 2023-24 financial year, with a projected average value of $3.48 billion between 2024-25 and 2028-29.

Significant Increase in Illegal Fishing

According to the AFMA’s 2024 annual report, 237 foreign vessels were spotted fishing illegally in the 2023-24 financial year, up from 125 in the previous year.

While the latest figure was well below the 2021-22 record of nearly 350 vessels, it was still many times higher than the 10-year average of 20 vessels, as reported in 2022-23.

It said high levels of illegal fishing were concentrated in Australia’s northern waters, particularly in the Kimberley Marine Park.

“Many of the drivers behind the increase in illegal foreign fishing are beyond the scope and control of [the] AFMA,” it said.

“Illegal fishing by foreign fishing vessels, mainly from Indonesia, but also from Papua New Guinea in the Torres Strait remains a high priority for AFMA and a key risk to fisheries and the marine environment.”

Recently in late March, the AFMA reported that 11 Indonesian nationals pledged guilty to illegally fishing in Australian waters in two separate cases.

Authorities seized a total of 1.3 tonnes of sea cucumber, a high-value seafood that can fetch up to thousands of dollars a kilo in some markets.

The Indonesian nationals were detained and transported to Darwin for further investigation while their vessels were destroyed in accordance with Australian law.

Labor’s Policies

While the Labor has not made any new promises in this regard, it has implemented a number of measures to tackle illegal fishing in the lead-up to the election.

Specifically, the recent 2025 federal budget set aside $1.7 million for the AFMA to help the agency combat the growing threat of illegal fishing in Australia’s northern waters.

In January 2025, the Labor government launched the Operation Lunar task force and allocated an extra helicopter to the Border Force to strengthen the protection of Australia’s fisheries in the Northern Territory.

Before that, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announced the expansion of the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Park by 310,000 square kilometres in October 2024, which resulted in the marine reserve quadrupling in size.

According to the government, this measure will contribute to Australia’s marine conservation efforts and the fight against illegal fishing.