Maritime Border Command News

Australian and Indonesian authorities have jointly patrolled 24,000 square nautical miles of ocean to the north of Australia during a week-long operation to combat illegal maritime activity in the region.The annual joint patrol aims to improve coordination between Australian and Indonesian authorities to deter, detect and respond to illegal maritime activities, including illegal foreign fishing. Six vessels were boarded during the operation.Operation JAWLINE ARAFURA ran from September…

Australian authorities last month located, intercepted and apprehended an Indonesian vessel illegally fishing and shark finning inside the Australian Territorial Sea near New Year Island, approximately 294 kilometers north-east of Darwin.Australian authorities seized the vessel along with 50 kilograms of shark fin, 80 kilograms of bait fish and a substantial quantity of fishing equipment. The crew was detained and transported to Darwin, with the vessel destroyed by Australian…

Australia and Indonesia have completed a coordinated international maritime security operation to detect, deter and combat illegal activities at sea.Between May 8 and 17, Australian and Indonesian agencies undertook Operation GANNET within the Timor Sea Area of Operations, which includes waters around Ashmore Island.The operation comprised vessels, aircraft and personnel from the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (BAKAMLA), Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Republic of Indonesia (PSDKP)…

The Australian Border Force (ABF) has apprehended 30 illegal foreign fishers and seized and destroyed three fishing vessels as part of an ongoing operation targeting illegal fishing off the coast of Western Australia.ABF's Maritime Border Command in partnership with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) detected and apprehended the vessels found to be fishing illegally in the Kimberley Marine Park between December 23 and 26, 2023.The illegal fishing crews have been…

Authorities have made a major drug bust from a containership bound for Australia.Earlier this month, Australian Federal Police (AFP) were tipped that the containership MSC Joanna allegedly contained a large quantity of cocaine on board, and authorities tracked the vessel as it made its way to Sydney.Through Maritime Border Command, ABF officers provided ongoing monitoring of the vessel, including planning the aerial and on-water response. Aerial surveillance observed a man launching a small vessel from Taren Point and meeting the MSC Joana off the coast of Sydney before sunrise on March 11. Police allege 11 green lidded crates containing 199 blocks of cocaine were offloaded from the cargo vessel at sea and transported to the smaller vessel…

A coordinated patrol between the Australian Defense Force (ADF) and Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) to improve security along the shared maritime border has concluded this week in Bali, Indonesia. Coordinated maritime patrol AUSINDO CORPAT 2018, the eighth iteration of the exercise, began in Darwin on 16 April following seven days of joint exercises between the two nations’ defence forces. The ADF’s HMAS Broome and TNI’s naval vessels KRI Layang and Kakap covered waters between Australia and Indonesia over nine days, targeting maritime security threats, including illegal fishing, while improving the collection and sharing of information between the two nations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA Japan) and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), in cooperation with the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ReCAAP ISC), jointly launched the inaugural Capacity Building Executive Programme on combating piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia in Singapore. The Capacity Building Executive Programme—targeted at senior-level personnel with 10 to 15 years of experience and above in maritime enforcement—will see ReCAAP Contracting Parties from ASEAN (Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), together with representatives from Indonesia and Malaysia as dialogue partners, participate in a 10-day training held both in Singapore and Japan from September 27 to October 6, 2017.

The Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Defence Force Maritime Element conducted a PNG Government led joint patrol to identify and intercept Vietnamese illegal fishing vessels operating in the vicinity of Budi Budi Island (an Atoll) in Milne Bay. The ABF’s Maritime Border Command (MBC) received a request from the PNG Defence Force Maritime Element for assistance in detecting and intercepting Vietnamese vessels suspected of illegally fishing in PNG waters. An ABF Dash-8 surveillance aircraft conducted a targeted aerial surveillance flight on 22 December 2016, locating three Vietnamese fishing vessels approximately 350 nautical miles east of Port Moresby, PNG.

The crew of Australian Border Force Cutter (ABFC) Storm Bay have rescued two people from the water after their yacht capsized off Cairns. Shortly after leaving Cairns on patrol on Sunday 4 December 2016, ABFC Storm Bay received a request from Cairns Vessel Traffic System to respond to reports of a vessel in distress approximately 1.2 nautical miles off Machans Beach. ABFC Storm Bay, operating under Maritime Border Command (MBC), a multi-agency taskforce within the Australian Border Force (ABF), arrived a short time later and located the overturned 12 foot sailing trimaran yacht, and two people in the water. MBC officers deployed the ship’s boat and provided the couple with life jackets before removing them from the water. The pair were in a state of exhaustion and quite distressed.

Senior officers from Australia and 19 other nations attended the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) meeting in Sydney this week to reinforce the importance of a regional approach to combat piracy and armed robbery at sea. ReCAAP facilitates capacity building efforts and information sharing among its member countries. Rear Admiral Michael Noonan, Commander of Maritime Border Command of the Australian Border Force (ABF), which includes ABF and Defence, stressed the importance of ReCAAP as the only multi-nation regional forum dedicated to combatting piracy and sea robbery.