Torres Strait Islanders say foreign fishing vessels are plundering their waters in unprecedented numbers, further threatening their traditional way of life.
Australia’s fisheries authority is also alarmed by the border intrusions and is working to ramp up surveillance.
Traditional owners claim more than 50 Chinese-sponsored Papua New Guinean fishing boats have been intensively and illegally working the Warrior Reefs in the archipelago’s northeast.
“They’re taking anything and everything off that reef: clams, turtles, octopus, small, big, anything, and they’ve been doing it since December,” Iama Fisheries Management Authority spokesman Charles David told AAP.
“Some nights on that reef it’s like a city with all the lights. These people don’t muck around. They’ve got nothing to lose and they are raping our reef.”…