Top End TO groups want changes to fishos’ tidal waters access: NLC CEO Marion Scrymgour
TOP End Traditional Owners’ groups understand the importance to fishos of having access to tidal waters. But they want changes, writes NLC CEO Marion Scrymgour
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Fishos react with shock to NLC’s coastline access announcement
- NT Government, NLC broker major Blue Mud Bay deal
- NLC, fishermen agree on terms over NT intertidal zone access
IN OCTOBER 2001, the High Court handed down a judgment which was a great disappointment for traditional owners of the Croker Island (Minjilang) region of the Northern Territory.
The traditional owners (TOs) had been hoping for recognition in Australian law that they had exclusive native title over seas beyond the low water mark of land which had been granted under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act (ALRA).
The High Court’s finding of only non-exclusive native title meant that there was a disconnect between Australian law and how the TOs viewed the world.
Their aspirations to establish commercial fishing and aquaculture industries in the claimed waters, as a pathway to future economic self-sufficiency, were essentially left stranded.
The TOs nevertheless accepted the outcome, and resolved to move on and adapt to the circumstances.
They understood that the Territory is part of the Australian legal system, and as Aboriginal Territorians they have learned to be patient.
Then, in July 2008, the High Court handed down another judgment.
This one was very welcome to TOs of ALRA coastal land.
It was the final stage in what was known as the Blue Mud Bay case.
MORE NT NEWS
Man, 57, dies after being struck by car during cycling club event
NT calls in debt collectors to chase hotel quarantine bill dodgers
Major new complex with childcare centre could spell end for tenpin bowling alley
The court found that fishing in the Territory was governed by the NT Fisheries Act, but that when it came to ALRA land, outsiders who were authorised under the Fisheries Act to fish still had to get permission if they wanted to fish in tidal waters inside the low water mark.
Access to ALRA land (and waters) is normally arranged by applying for a permit under a piece of legislation which is separate from, but complementary to ALRA.
When the Northern Land Council and TOs refer to a permit, they are talking about a process where a person provides information, gets checked out, and may or may not get approved to enter the area nominated in the permit application.
A permit is very different from the Blue Mud Bay registration process which has now been put in place to allow access to large sections of the Top End coastline.
Top End TO groups have understood the importance to fishers of having access to tidal waters.
They are not dismissive of the concerns of amateur fishers’ group AFANT, fishing tour operators, and commercial fishing businesses.
But they want change.
Over the past year, the NLC and the NT government have been looking closely at how Aboriginal people can become participants and stakeholders in commercial fishing and aquaculture industries in their traditional sea country.
HOT new deal: Read everything for 28 days for just $1
This was the vision of the Croker Island TOs.
It is a step towards securing mutually respectful access arrangements.
.
■ MARION SCRYMGOUR is the chief executive of the Northern Land Council
Join the conversation
Station with no cells: Illusion of safety is simply not good enough
If the Nightcliff station is ‘not a police station’, then the sign on the front should be taken down. Pretending there’s a police presence there when there’s not is more dangerous than having nothing there at all, writes Matt Cunningham.
Read more
Penbo: Awkward new lesson on Australia’s crazy energy situation
There’s a yawning chasm between meaningful gestures and practical solutions that was laid bare again this week, writes David Penberthy.
Read more