Disgraceful

[Guest madsmc]

This is exactly why they keep taking our fish illegally.

Shane

[Sharky]

I read that on the way to work today and I was shaking my head in disgust. It really gets me fuming when I read stuff like that

[kantong]

thats absolutely disgusting. It's ironic that their courts take such a harsh stance on Australian drug smugglers and yet our courts cannot even enforce a fine that suits the crime.

The Australian courts have to take a good look at what has been done, and they must know that the Australian public is losing confidence that our system is force to be reckoned with.

Australian court at the moment is an absolute joke.

[crystalliser]

Totally unbelievable..

[OWZAT]

G`day Fellas ,

And one has to ask , how much taxpayers money was wasted securing a $5.00 fine ?.

At a guess I would estimate $100,000 , and its never going to goa way either.

They cant even confiscate the catch and sell it to go towards the cost of the action.

Better to have patrols crusing the area in full view of these pirates , rather than playing war games with them .

Mick

[Flattieman]

Sickening.

Flattieman.

[barrykrocker]

the reason they got that fine is because there was no way theyd be able to afford anything more. taking theri boat is punishment enough. whats the alternitive? thrpwing them in jail and wasting tax payers money. and i assume if the same ones got caught doing it agian theyd be in trouble. pisses me off far less than seeing aussie citizens keeping undersized/too many fish

[clutch]

the reason they got that fine is because there was no way theyd be able to afford anything more. taking theri boat is punishment enough. whats the alternitive?

Public flogging with the ol' cat o'nine tails would be a good start

[Mondo Rock]

Barrykrocker - with all due respect you don't know what these Indonesian fishermen can and can't afford. I think it is a bit presumptuous to just assume that they're all dirt-poor and couldn't afford to pay a more hefty fine.

I have been to Indonesia many times and can tell you first hand that, whilst there is a lot of poverty, those who own businesses aren't doing too badly for themselves.

Yes the confiscation of their boats is probably going to hit them hard, but in addition to that the Australian Courts should be imposing a big enough fine to ensure that they think twice before raiding our natural resources again. Don't forget that they all admitted knowing that they were inside Australian waters and still continued to fish.

To my mind, a $5 fine plus boat confiscation simply isn't good enough.

Would you accept this punishment if the offenders had been white Australians?

[Davy]

On the topic of shrk fins..

i went down to the local fish market store and saw that they had fins, im not sure if they were shark fins but they sure looked like it, and i cudnt see any signs displaying what it was etc.

Maybe im wrong.