Fishing turmoil over NLC permit decison

Recreational and commercial fishers and the Northern Territory Government have reacted with shock over an NLC announcement that from January 1 large sections of the NT coastline will be red carded to recreational and commercial fishermen

Northern Land Council chairman Samuel Bush-Blanasi and Chief Minister Michael Gunner discussed fishing permits at a bridge overlooking the Victoria River in Timber Creek.

Recreational and commercial fishers and the Northern Territory Government have reacted with shock over an NLC announcement that from January 1 large sections of the NT coastline will be red carded to recreational and commercial fishermen.

A public notice in Friday’s NT News announced that from 2021 permits will be required to access Indigenous intertidal waters. The public notice appears to contradict a press release sent to the NT News on December 11 which says:

“The Northern Land Council’s Full Council, at their meeting at Katherine this week, approved the granting of two-years’ access for recreational and commercial fishers to Aboriginal tidal waters in the Northern Territory.”

In the same press release NLC CEO Marion Scrymgour welcomed the Full Council’s decision.

“We understand the importance of access to Aboriginal waters for fishers, and this two-year period gives the NT Government time to deliver on its commitments under the agreement we signed in July.”

An NLC statement from just a few months ago said fishing would remain permit free

Acting Chief Minister Nicole Manison said the NT Government was now seeking answers from the NLC because the announcement is not in line with what the NT Government understood to be the agreement.

The NT Government had earlier signed a $10 million deal to ensure an expedited review of the Fisheries Act.

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“I’ll be having conversations with all the groups,” she said. “We want to make sure there is permit free access for those people with commercial tourism businesses and recreational fishing.”

Amateur Fishermen’s Association of the NT chief executive officer David Ciaravolo said the public notice has created shock and confusion and he feared the decision could be a death blow for some fishing tour operators who have had a terrible year because of COVID 19.

“We have had forecasts for a good monsoon season and we know the bookings have been coming in for the run off season and a lot of the areas where operators fish and take their clients will now be off limits at the start of the season,” he said.

“So it is a hug blow and is very much unexpected.

“It is very concerning because the NLC’s commitment in the $10 million deal with the NT government included maintaining current fishing access while negotiations continued for the next two years.

“It is very difficult for people to know how to respond to this because what has been put out is thoroughly confusing.

“The lines on the map do not relate to the intertidal zone. The intertidal zone remains undefined in most locations.

“Large parts of the Arnhem Land coast, Blue Mud Bay, the Kakadu coastline, and the Finniss River will require a permit for intertidal access.

“Some of the no go zone areas of the rivers, like the Finnis River seem to be coloured in red. “The first five kilometres or so of that river is not aboriginal land at all.

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“Parts of Kakadu, which we understand the access is governed by the joint management between the Federal Government and the traditional owners of that area have also had red lines drawn on it.

Technically people could apply for permits in red areas, but there is a question mark over the consultation with traditional owners and whether permits will be issued.

Originally published as Fishing turmoil over NLC permit decison