Hi Weatherwax,
I am familiar with the actual piracy that is rampant in all of what is called Southeast Asia, Australasia and the Southwest Pacific, (and it is increasing and the MSM is ignoring it). This is one of the problems with all such matters--the mixture of principles. True piracy (using force against innocents) and calling "fishing" piracy is a confusion of principles.
Anyone is allowed to sail in Australian waters, for peaceful purposes, wherever they are from. Fish do not have a particular geography, by the way, and no one owns anything until they have earned it.
By the way, no one needs to agree with me, and I appreciate the comments.
Hank
Hi Hank,
One of the reasons the Indonesians have a reason to go fishing in Australian waters is because of the efforts made by Australian fishermen to conserve the fish numbers. For many years now, Austarlian fishermen have largely kept to a system of quotas, even now being in the process of voluntarily phasing out trawl and drag fishing, which depletes whole areas not only of the fish but the environment they need in order to reproduce. And they haven't done all this for anyone's benefit but there own.
Indonesia has millions (forget how many) people, and has fished out their waters by undisciplined ignorant wholesale takes. And often wastefully, too. By invading Australian waters they are using the disciplined control of others, whose efforts have largely kept the fish stocks high. Why should the prices Aussies pay for their fish in order to keep the stocks high be used to subsidise the undiscipled behaviour of another nation?
However, I do take your point about claiming an area by force without having produced anything on it. But are you saying now that no-one can own any area, only whatever they produce from it? So can I come and run some sheep on your property, since you cannot own your area, only what you produce? Given that one needs an area of land (or sea) to produce anything, I think that ownership of that basic infrastructure in order to produce has to be possible.
What do you think?