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I
INTRODUCTION
The 2008 calendar year was a reasonably quiet one for the Australian scene so far as maritime law matters were concerned even though most of the usual matters saw some developments. The fisheries incursions by illegal foreign fishers in Australia's northern waters fell from recent highs to more usual levels, and no illegal fishing was detected in the deep Southern Ocean. The whaling issue with the Japanese whaling fleet making its annual voyage to the Southern Ocean remains contentious and the 'boat people,' mainly refugees from Iraq and/or Afghanistan, still continue to arrive but they are now treated as they should be; on their merits or otherwise. The number of maritime cases in the courts worthy of reporting was not large and there were the usual number of other issues that merit being touched on.
As a result the 2008 'Australian Update' can be categorised more as interesting than dramatic and it begins with fisheries.
II
FISHERIES AND OTHER OFFSHORE ISSUES
A. Fisheries
Previous Australian Annual Updates have devoted considerable space to the issues of international fisheries incursions into the Australian EEZ and the attempts by the Australian government agencies and Australian defence forces to curb them. It is pleasing to note that the rate of these incursions is showing signs of decreasing. Some comparison over the past two years may be seen from this table under, in which the of sightings of vessels in the Austradan EEZ, which is the same as the Australian Fisheries Zone (AFZ), is much higher but the actual apprehensions are much lower. This would appear to indicate that the unlawful incursions by foreign fishers have dropped markedly.1
As the Austradan government has reorganised the offshore survetilance and enforcement powers of its various agencies and defence assets under the one command, known as the Border Protection Command, it may be that an increased efficiency has led to more sightings being recorded.2
Quite a few cases have been processed through the courts in Darwin, the Northern Territory capital city, but none of them have proceeded on appeal. There were no apprehensions in the Southern Ocean or significant court cases in any of the southern cities during 2008, which would appear to indicate that the drive to eliminate the depredations...