Australia 'sorry' for wrongly sinking fishing boats

16/05/2008 16:59:59

The Australian government says there will be no repercussions on Australian authorities for wrongly arresting and detaining Indonesian fishermen, and destroying some of their boats.

It has been found that the crew of nine boats, arrested in April on suspicion of illegal fishing, are innocent.

Some of their boats were destroyed by Australian authorities for being "unseaworthy".

The federal fisheries minister, Tony Burke, says he is sorry the boats were sunk.

But he says he is not going to change the way Australian fishing authorities conduct their business because of the incident.

"There were 33 vessels that were apprehended in this operation, we're talking about nine where a mistake was made," he said.

"The individuals concerned will get compensated for the loss of their boats and equipment, and they will be returned (home) on Saturday."

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority is not commenting on the issue.

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