11 December, 2024

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is disappointed the NSW Government is persisting with keeping bag and possession limits for Aboriginal cultural fishing.

“The NSW Government is giving with one hand, yet trying to take away with another with the recently released draft Aboriginal Fishing Regulation,’’ NSWALC Chairperson Cr Raymond Kelly said.

“The NSW Government must acknowledge Aboriginal peoples are holders of specific Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Traditional Fishing Knowledge accumulated over millennia, and have sustainably managed fish stocks over this time.

“This is Caring for Country, and clear evidence of self-regulation, which has been occurring for thousands of years”, he said.

“We continue to urge the NSW Government to end the prosecutions of Aboriginal people exercising their cultural fishing rights,’’ Chairperson Kelly said. “We also call for the immediate commencement of Section 21AA of the Fisheries Management Act 1994, which the NSW Parliament passed 15 years ago, but without any strings attached, like bag limits.’’

Cr Danny Chapman, the NSWALC Councillor for the South Coast Region, an area which has borne the brunt of cultural fishing harassment and prosecutions in NSW, said the commencement of s21AA with bag limits will not stop the prosecutions, harassment and intimidation.

“Aboriginal people need proper protection for our fishing rights, which includes access for both cultural and commercial activities’’ Cr Chapman said. He questioned how restrictions such as bag limits will allow continued Community sustenance, health and well being.

“Bag limits on culturally important species, such as abalone, are a direct attack on Aboriginal fishers. This won’t allow sharing of catch within community and will not support continuing connection to Country. It is a very disappointing development, especially here on the South Coast,” Cr Chapman said.

Feedback on the draft Aboriginal Fishing Regulation closes on 16 February 2025.