Australia's Response to Illegal Foreign Fishing: A Case of winning the Battle but losing the Law?

The right of prompt release has been interpreted by ITLOS as a safeguard balancing the right of the coastal state to detain and deal with arrested fishing vessels and crew on the one hand, with the interests of the flag state to secure the release of detained fishing vessels on the other. As the incidence of illegal fishing within national fishing zones has increased in the past decade, many coastal states such as Australia have implemented increasingly harsh penalties aimed at deterring the fishers. This ppaer examines the automatic forfeiture regime under Australian legislation