STAFF REPORTER

Western Australia’s Department of Fisheries has apologised to a Taiwanese immigrant who made a racial discrimination complaint after being slapped with fishing charges.

The department today revealed it had reached a confidential settlement with commercial fisher Fu-Hsin Chen against whom it had earlier dropped the charges.

Mr Chen had migrated from Taiwan and ran a fishing business from Perth.

The settlement followed a complaint made by Mr Chen to the Australian Human Rights Commission alleging the department’s action had discriminated against him on the grounds of race.

In June 2009, after an investigation by departmental officers, Mr Chen was arrested on suspicion of breaching the Fish Resources Management Regulations, in his role as Owner/Manager of Shine Year Fisheries (Aust) Pty Ltd.

In November 2009, the department dropped the charges against Mr Chen.

The department says two independent reviews were conducted into the investigation that led to Mr Chen’s arrest and the release of a media statement after the arrest.

The review process cleared Fisheries officers of misconduct.

However, deficiencies in procedures leading to Mr Chen’s arrest were identified.

Fisheries says it has acted on recommendations for improvement of its practices but does not accept its actions were racist.

The department apologised for distress it caused Mr Chen and his family and for any adverse impact on his business.