"Go-On Bird": The Ongoing Struggle for Aboriginal Fishing Rights on the NSW South Coast

Peter Botsman
6 October 2014
On October 18, 2014 on Candlagan Beach near Broulee Island a protest for the restoration of Aboriginal fishing rights will take place. In the lead up to that event in this hour and a half long interview John Brierley and Andrew Nye reflect on the history of NSW South Coast Aboriginal Fishing. The conversation, which was recorded in John Brierley's kitchen in Moruya on October 1, 2014, ranged from history, to licencing, to the issues of selling fish and developing a well resourced Aboriginal South Coast fishing industry that creates employment opportunities for young people.
 
For more information contact John Brierley: 0419-475-645 or John.Brierley@hotmail.com
 
Much like the Iroquois who kept the first settlers in America alive through their first winter, its a story that begins with the Yuin people keeping the first non-Indigenous community alive by bartering food primarily fish. There were many twists and turns. Aboriginal people managed the NSW South Coast fisheries very well for thousands of years. After settlement John and Andrew think it may have been a mistake for South Coast Aboriginal fishers to accept a licence. Once Aboriginal fishers accepted a fishing licence it meant they started to lose their role as managers of the fisheries.

Now the tragedy is that family members and young people are being restricted from participating in the fishing industry and the restrictions are creating a situation where veteran fishers like John and Andrew are finding it impossible to continue. The Aboriginal community were divided by the selective allocation of licences. John and Andrew say that the principles of Aboriginal law were fundamentally broken by the new management system. Instead of taking a little of every thing the licence endorsements were species specific. It meant fisherman hammered the species they were endorsed to catch. The way in which John and Andrew see it the Aboriginal community should have their rights to fishing restored without the need for licences. They would be happy to take out beach fishing insurance and a permit to sell fish but other than that the Aboriginal community should have the right to manage the fisheries of the South Coast.
Looking to the future John and Andrew see that there must be an Aboriginal management system of Aboriginal fishers in which at-risk species like abalone, lobsters and gar fish are regulated by a quota enforced by Aboriginal elders. They see that an Aboriginal coop could regulate all catches and that it should be Aboriginal elders who enforce the plan through traditional authority with a potential recourse to the courts if necessary.

https://soundcloud.com/kangaroova/go-on-bird-the-ongoing-struggle-for-ns...

For more information contact John Brierley: 0419-475-645 or John.Brierley@hotmail.com

 

For more information contact John Brierley: 0419-475-645 or John.Brierley@hotmail.com