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Katie Woolf spoke with AFANT CEO David Ciaravolo · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty.
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  Speaker 2: Every one is listening Mixed one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 3: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 3: Now we know that as part of this ongoing implementation
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  Speaker 3: of the Blue Mud Bay Implementation Action Plan, the government
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  Speaker 3: said earlier this week that they've written to the Northern
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  Speaker 3: Land Council seeking to refresh long term access agreements to
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  Speaker 3: popular recreational fishing areas overlaying aboriginal land in the top end.
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  Speaker 3: So under the Blue Mud Bay Implementation Plan, the Northern
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  Speaker 3: Territory and the Northern Territory Government and the Northern Land
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  Speaker 3: Council so that they're committed to a series of actions
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  Speaker 3: to lock in long term recreational fishing access and create
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  Speaker 3: new opportunities and jobs for traditional owners. Now joining us
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  Speaker 3: in the studio to talk a little bit more about
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  Speaker 3: this situation and how things are going at the moment
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  Speaker 3: is the Amateur Fishermen's Association of the Northern Territory CEO
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  Speaker 3: David Girrevolo. Good morning to.
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  Speaker 2: You, Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 3: Now, how are things going when it comes to this agreement.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we're really pleased to see the development today, well
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  Speaker 1: yesterday in fact, and the announcement from the Indigen's Affairs
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  Speaker 1: Minister and the Minister for Recreational Fishing. And what that
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  Speaker 1: means is that there is we understand there's an envelope
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  Speaker 1: of funding available for long term access arrangements for some
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  Speaker 1: of those key fishing grounds where traditional owners would like
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  Speaker 1: to enter into an agreement in the future.
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  Speaker 3: And so we don't really know how much funding that
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  Speaker 3: is that's been put forward or exactly what the strings
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  Speaker 3: are that are attached, I guess, but at the end
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  Speaker 3: of the day, it's all about trying to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that the NLC and our fisher and all of our
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  Speaker 3: fishing industry work together.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's exactly right.
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  Speaker 1: Look, a range of other areas across the territory that
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  Speaker 1: are currently covered by long term access agreements, so places
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  Speaker 1: like the Daily River that are Aboriginal owned waters, places
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  Speaker 1: like king Ash Bay and the MacArthur River which again
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  Speaker 1: Aboriginal owned waters, and intertitle zones. There are long term
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  Speaker 1: access agreements that provide a range of benefits. It could
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  Speaker 1: be range of funding, it can be more direct funding infrastructure,
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  Speaker 1: that kind of thing. The specific deals are between the
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  Speaker 1: traditional owners and the government, and what we understand is
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  Speaker 1: a similar kind of offers are being put on the table.
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  Speaker 1: And one thing people need to be clear about is
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  Speaker 1: in accordance with the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
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  Speaker 2: It is up to the traditional owners to decide.
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  Speaker 1: But one of the things that we've been really passionate
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  Speaker 1: about and working behind the scenes with the government and
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  Speaker 1: the NLC, is to make sure that there are offers
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  Speaker 1: on the table for the consideration of traditional owners and
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  Speaker 1: ultimately is up to them to decide.
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  Speaker 3: And where I mean, from your perspective, where are things
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  Speaker 3: at at the moment in terms of you know, how
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  Speaker 3: this like, how it's sort of played out since that
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  Speaker 3: announcement was made by the NLC a little bit earlier
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  Speaker 3: this year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so there's been some big impacts on recreational fishing
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  Speaker 1: at the start of the year and there was a
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  Speaker 1: lot of confusion around that. Of course, we all tried
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  Speaker 1: to work together as best we could, but it was
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  Speaker 1: a difficult time. I think it's fair to say it.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone wanted to acknowledge it was a difficult time. So
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  Speaker 1: some areas immediately from March were closed in the Finnis
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  Speaker 1: River up from about five kilometers upwards from the mouth
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  Speaker 1: and the Fog Bay and the Little Finnis River and
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  Speaker 1: the Mini Mini were some of those areas in the.
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  Speaker 2: East Alligator with some of those areas where people lost
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  Speaker 2: access to.
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  Speaker 1: Since that time, we've seen some consultations occur with traditional owners.
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  Speaker 1: The NLC has been out there and they've reported back
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  Speaker 1: through the media and to us that there's been some
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  Speaker 1: favorable outcomes for places like the East Alligator and the
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  Speaker 1: Mini Mini where people can access it with that registration,
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  Speaker 1: so they've got to go into the NLC website. But unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: from a fishing perspective, recreational fishes have not been able
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  Speaker 1: to access that section of the Finness River we would
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  Speaker 1: normally be able to access and so I think from
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  Speaker 1: the Minister for Recreational Fishings comments on that media release
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  Speaker 1: is that this envelope of funding is targeted at long
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  Speaker 1: term agreements areements.
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  Speaker 2: For the Finness and the Mini Minimurganella region.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, no doubt that a lot of
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  Speaker 3: people will be quite pleased to hear that and quite
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  Speaker 3: well hoping that they're going to be able to access
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  Speaker 3: those thereas that they previously had been able.
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  Speaker 1: To well, look, we certainly hope that and you know,
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  Speaker 1: we certainly advocate for that.
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  Speaker 2: We are always respectful of the fact that.
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  Speaker 1: There is a decision for the traditional owners, but we
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  Speaker 1: think there can be some real benefits here, you know,
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  Speaker 1: funding for rangers to be on the water to help
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  Speaker 1: care for country. But we've also been putting our best
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  Speaker 1: foot forward corresponding with the NLC. You know, there are
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  Speaker 1: areas like the Daily River have codes of conduct, there
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  Speaker 1: are special bag limits in place for the conservation of Barramundi.
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  Speaker 1: We've got afant runs a tagging program which have been
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  Speaker 1: doing for twenty years and we can share that information.
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  Speaker 2: With traditional owners.
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  Speaker 1: So we've put that forward as well as something that
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  Speaker 1: we'd be prepared to do. But obviously the main negotiating
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  Speaker 1: partners here. In fact the negotiating partners are the territory
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  Speaker 1: government and the Northern Land Council, and so it is
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  Speaker 1: pleasing to see progress, but of course we're not actually
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  Speaker 1: directly involved in those negotiations.
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  Speaker 3: Now, how are things going with the you know, having
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  Speaker 3: to register if you are heading out to some of
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  Speaker 3: those waterways to fish.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm not privy to the numbers of registrations I've
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  Speaker 1: spoken to quite a few fishers who have got the registrations.
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  Speaker 1: I think one of the problems we had initially was
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  Speaker 1: that the registration didn't cover a lot of the places
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  Speaker 1: people actually wanted to go fishing atp I would suspect
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  Speaker 1: that now that the East Alligator and the Mini Mini
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  Speaker 1: region are covered by it, and that later on in
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  Speaker 1: the year, especially in the build up, we'll see a
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  Speaker 1: lot more fishing activity around the Mini Mini that more
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  Speaker 1: people will avail themselves of that. I think if the
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  Speaker 1: Finness River was to come online through that kind of arrangement,
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  Speaker 1: then we would see a lot more uptake.
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  Speaker 3: What's the feedback been from you from those that are
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  Speaker 3: recreational fishes though, in terms of has it been quite
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  Speaker 3: an easy sort of process despite not being able to
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  Speaker 3: access some of those areas where they might be keen to.
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  Speaker 2: I think the process itself has been quite easy.
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  Speaker 1: I think communication around the areas that actually is covered
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  Speaker 1: by the registration is something that we're working on with
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  Speaker 1: the NLC to make sure it's always up to date
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  Speaker 1: and as crystal clear as it can be. I've been
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  Speaker 1: having some conversations with Marion about how we can just
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  Speaker 1: really optimize that, but you know, overwhelmingly the feedback that
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  Speaker 1: we get is and with full respect to the traditional
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  Speaker 1: owners who have the right to decide who comes to
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  Speaker 1: visit these places. Territorians are very connected to these rivers
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  Speaker 1: and these coastlines. They love these places, many cases been
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  Speaker 1: visiting them all their lives through multi generations, and a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people feel really hurt by that loss of access.
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  Speaker 1: So that's why that's probably the number one thing that
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  Speaker 1: we hear from people, is that they are upset about that,
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  Speaker 1: and they want to know if progress is being made,
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  Speaker 1: And that's why we're really hopeful that progress can be made.
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  Speaker 1: And I think, Katie, I'd really like to acknowledge that
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  Speaker 1: since the Blue My Bay decision in two thousand and eight,
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  Speaker 1: in the twelve years or more since then, by and large,
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  Speaker 1: most areas traditional owners have continued to invite people to
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  Speaker 1: come and to visit, and so the long term trend
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  Speaker 1: really has been of traditional owners sharing their country. Clearly,
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  Speaker 1: there's a need for more negotiations. Clearly there's some areas
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  Speaker 1: that are out of bounds now that weren't out of
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  Speaker 1: bounds until very recently, and really hoping there is opportunity
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  Speaker 1: for positive progress here.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you reckon change? Like, you know, I
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  Speaker 3: did something sort of change that you guys are aware of,
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  Speaker 3: you know, to mean that you wouldn't be able to
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  Speaker 3: go to those areas that you had previously been able to,
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  Speaker 3: you know, like, was there something that had upset the
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  Speaker 3: traditional owners? From what your perspective, I.
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  Speaker 1: Think it's important that I don't try to put words
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  Speaker 1: in other people's mouths or speak for traditional owners. But
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  Speaker 1: you know, I think anyone could imagine that if they
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  Speaker 1: are involved in negotiation that they hadn't seen an outcome
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  Speaker 1: for for twelve years, you could imagine why someone might
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  Speaker 1: want to change tact in the negotiating approach. Now what's happened,
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  Speaker 1: But clearly there is a need for the government to
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  Speaker 1: put its best foot forward. And you know, given how
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  Speaker 1: important a place like the Finish River is to recreational
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  Speaker 1: fishes as well as traditional owners, it really is incumbent
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  Speaker 1: on the government to make sure that the offer on
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  Speaker 1: the table can be a creative solution and that it
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  Speaker 1: should be something that works for everybody. In all the
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  Speaker 1: things that I've heard, I don't think I've heard anything
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  Speaker 1: that would be sort of insurmountable in terms of you know,
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  Speaker 1: traditional owners want more involvement in management, or want to
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  Speaker 1: be able to care for country better, or want to
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  Speaker 1: want to know better about what's happening on the river
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  Speaker 1: in terms of visitation. Surely we can work on all
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  Speaker 1: that stuff together, and I hope that this is an
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  Speaker 1: indication of a positive step in that direction.
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  Speaker 3: But by the sounds of it, you know, our rick
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  Speaker 3: Fishes and our fan tore will and truly they're ready
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  Speaker 3: to do what you can do to try and make
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  Speaker 3: it happen.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and also what more we can do. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we're always up for a chat. We're always we're always
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  Speaker 1: willing to talk. We've met with lots of toos over
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  Speaker 1: the years. We do that through the NLC. That's the
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  Speaker 1: appropriate way for that to happen, usually through the committee's processes.
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  Speaker 1: But look, we're absolutely here and willing to talk and
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  Speaker 1: engage with the NLC and the government on this at
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  Speaker 1: any time as we continue to do so.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, David, it will be interesting to see where
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  Speaker 3: it all lands, and we really appreciate you coming into
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  Speaker 3: the studio this morning to give us a bit more
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  Speaker 3: detail about it. David Chirrovolo, CEO of FAT the Amateur
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  Speaker 3: Fishermen's Association here in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks Katie,