Northern Land Council reassures fishos of permit free access to Aboriginal sea country via registration process

THE Northern Land Council has moved to reassure recreational fishers they will have permit-free access to more than 3000km of Aboriginal sea country until at least the end of next year

THE Northern Land Council has moved to reassure recreational fishers they will have permit free access to more than 3000km of Aboriginal sea country until at least the end of next year.

But NLC chief executive Marion Scrymgour said fishos would have to complete a “simple and free” registration process before casting a line in almost two thirds of that area.

Ms Scrymgour said the registration system had come after extensive consultation with traditional owners who had “the right to say who can and who cannot come onto their country”.

Tidal Waters Access Map. Picture: Northern Land Council

She said while some areas were off limits for “cultural, environmental or commercial reasons”, more than 3000km of coastline would be open for fishing.

“The NLC has statutory responsibilities to assist traditional owners to manage their country and we take those responsibilities very seriously,” she said.

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“The NLC has been talking to and sharing information with all the other stakeholders –— the NT government, (the Amateur Fishermen’s Association), the Seafood Council and the Guided Fishing Tour operators but at all times we have to put the interests of traditional owners first.”

NLC chairman Samuel Bush-Blanasi noted the long history of the battle for sea country in the NT.

Fisho Lachlan King is happy to register to cast a line in Top End Aboriginal coastal waters. Photograph: Che Chorley

“That struggle didn’t just start with Blue Mud Bay in the High Court, we had the Croker Island case before that and sea country traditional owners have been fighting for their country

for many, many years,” he said.

“We came close when the Land Rights Act was first introduced by the Whitlam government in 1975. Back then the Land Rights Act would have given us two miles of sea country out from the shore.

“But when the Land Rights Act was reintroduced to the Australian parliament by the Fraser

government the next year those sea country rights were gone. We’ve never stopped fighting for our sea country and we never will.”

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Top End angler Lachlan King said he was happy to register with the NLC before heading out to fish in Aboriginal waters.

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