Aborigines' fishing rights in Blue Mud Bay upheld

THE right of Aboriginal landowners in the Northern Territory to control who fishes in coastal waters has been upheld in the High Court.

THE right of Aboriginal landowners in the Northern Territory to control who fishes in coastal waters has been upheld in the High Court.

The High Court today dismissed an appeal by the Northern Territory government that sought to challenge the right of traditional owners to exclude commercial and recreational fishermen from tidal waters within Blue Mud Bay in north-east Arnhem Land.

The Blue Mud Bay decision will affect 80 per cent of the territory's coastline, opening up the way for indigenous maritime economic development and giving traditional owners the right to determine when and where commercial and recreational fishing is carried out in inter-tidal waters.

It is also likely to lead to the introduction of a permit system for recreational fishermen.

Northern Land Council chairman Wali Wunungmurra said outside the Supreme Court in Darwin today that the decision had ended a 30-year-long fight for exclusive rights over the inter-tidal zone at Blue Mud Bay, which adjoins the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Mr Wunungmurra said traditional owners would now seek to negotiate a settlement with fishing interests that would ensure commercial and recreational fishermen could still access to tidal waters adjoining Aboriginal land.

Northern Territory Amateur Fishermens Association head Chris Makepeace said he was not suprised by the decision, which upheld a previous Federal Court decision, and the organisation was heartened to hear that traditional owners wanted to negotiate in good faith.

Mr Makepiece said he believed ultimately an individual permit system for each fisherman would not work, and was looking to the Federal Government for guidance on what today's High Court decision would mean in practice.