A massive oil spill off the coast of Western Australia in 2009 has forced Indonesian fishermen to turn to people smuggling, a West Timor advocate says.
The Montara disaster has been described as one of Australia's worst-ever oil spills.
It caused around 30,000 barrels of crude oil to leak into the Timor Sea off Western Australia's northern coast over 74 days.
West Timorese businessman and community advocate Ferdi Tanoni says the spill damaged fish stocks and caused an "80 to 90 per cent" fall in income for some Indonesian fishermen.
He says that's forced some to turn to people smuggling.
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"They're turning to people smuggling because their kids cannot go to school and they have to pay the bills because they can't fish like they used to," he told AAP on Wednesday.
Mr Tanoni is urging Australia and Indonesia to establish a marine protected area.
He says this will restore fish stocks, and remove the incentive for fishermen to get involved in people smuggling.
"Our big issue in Indonesia is how to increase the fish stock in this area for our fishermen," he said.
"In Australia, you have a big issue about people smuggling.
"Once our fishermen can get the better income, then I don't think they're going to get the money from these smugglers."
