The area around the Ashmore and Cartier Islands has been a traditional fishing ground of Indonesian fishermen for centuries, and continues. In the 1850s, American whalers operated in the region. Outside of fishing, the islands were historically used as sources of guano, beche-de-mer, trochus and tortoiseshell. Mining of phosphate deposits took place on Ashmore Island in the latter half of the 19th century. Petroleum extraction activities take place at the Jabiru and Challis oil fields, which are adjacent to the Territory, and which are administered by the Northern Territory's Department of Mines and Energy on behalf of the Commonwealth. Migration As Ashmore Reef is the closest point of Australian territory to Indonesia, it was a popular target for people smugglers transporting asylum seekers en route to Australia. Once they had landed on Ashmore Island, asylum seekers could claim to have entered Australian migration zone and request to be processed as refugees. The use of Ashmore Island for this purpose created great notoriety during late 2001, when refugee arrivals became a major political issue in Australia. The Australian Government argued that as Australia was not the country of first asylum for these "boat people", Australia did not have a responsibility to accept them. A number of things were done to discourage the use of the Territory for this purpose, such as attempting to have the people smugglers arrested in Indonesia; the so-called Pacific Solution of processing them in third countries; the boarding and forced turnaround of the boats by Australian military forces; and finally excising the Territory and many other small islands from the Australian migration zone. Two boatloads of asylum seekers were each detained for several days in the lagoon at Ashmore Island after failed attempts by the Royal Australian Navy to turn them back to Indonesia in October 2001. See also Immigration detention in Australia SIEV 36 References External links Ashmore and Cartier Islands. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Geoscience Australia—Ashmore and Cartier Islands Department of the Environment and Heritage—Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve Department of the Environment and Heritage—Cartier Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve First on list of Australian islands "Ashmore Reef Belongs to Indonesia," posted on East Timor Action Network. "Ashmore Islands are member of ARABOSAI" Ramsar sites in Australia Important Bird Areas of Australian External Territories Immigration to Australia Territorial disputes of Australia Territorial disputes of Indonesia Former British protectorates Ashmore Reef