No formal application will be necessary and the visa will remain in effect until it is ceased, in most instances, at the conclusion of AFMA proceedings or any custodial sentences that may be subsequently imposed by the courts for any Fisheries Management Act violations. Once the visa has ceased, the detainee will become an unlawful non-citizen and liable for detention and removal from Australia. Repeat offenders are usually prosecuted, their boats and catches are impounded. Penalties for violations of the Fisheries Management Act are in the form of fines. Where a fisherman does not pay the fine imposed by the court they may be sentenced for non payment of the fine, to a term of imprisonment commensurate with the initial fine.
Most sentences are relatively short, being for a month or two.
Many of the illegal fishermen are detained at Willie Creek near Broome, Western Australia. Illegal fishermen are detained on their vessels until investigations by AFMA officers are concluded. They then either depart on their vessels, are prosecuted, or DIMA removes them. This is a 3 per cent increase on the 1998-99 figure of 320 fishermen apprehended. A total of 330 Indonesian fishermen were repatriated in the same financial year, and 33 remained in immigration detention at 30 June 2000.