Seafood Council ‘cut out’ of negotiations over coastal access

THE NT Seafood Council says industry has been kept in the dark during negotiations over access to coastal waters

The NT Seafood Council has slammed the Northern Land Council and Territory Government for keeping industry in the dark during negotiations over access to coastal waters.

THE NT Seafood Council has slammed the Northern Land Council and Territory Government for keeping industry in the dark during negotiations over access to coastal waters.

The two parties have been deadlocked in a standoff over fishing in waters handed back to traditional owners by the High Court in 2008, which the government sought to resolve this week through a $10 million offer to buy out commercial fishing licences.

But NTSC chief executive Katherine Winchester said the “lack of transparency” around the negotiations had “resulted in an untenable situation of extreme uncertainty and financial stress”.

“The NTSC board see the conditions and principles requested for a permanent settlement of Blue Mud Bay and sea country by the NLC (as) being beyond existing legal entitlements and as such would require a lengthy and legal process involving both NT Government and Australian Government to explore,” she said.

“The wellbeing of professional fishermen, fishing tour operators, seafood related businesses owners and staff is being impacted as they are all waiting desperately to hear if they do or do not have access to the intertidal zone as of January 1, 2019.”

Ms Winchester said the NTSC had been “knocking on the door with a solution that the industry supports” for the past year but “no one had an interest in pursuing it”.

“It looks like the NT Government and NLC believed they could simply cut out a $1.5 billion industry without trying for a solution including us,” she said.

“We are very concerned the broader impacts of losing inter-tidal access have been overlooked. It’s not just about harvesting seafood from these waters, it is also about processing, maintenance, crew transfer and transit.”

Ms Winchester said there was still time to find a “win-win-win solution” that suited government, the NLC and industry.

“Imagine a barramundi fishery that is co-owned with indigenous community and marketed globally as a wild caught barra that received a premium due to quality, provenance and contribution to indigenous empowerment,” she said.

“Including the industry in discussions about a way forward will help assure all Territorians that a secure and sustainable supply of local seafood is not about to disappear.”

A government spokesman said it had been “very transparent” about its offer to the NLC and had made contact with the NTSC.

The NLC was contacted for comment.