The newly formed NSW Aboriginal Fishing Rights Group will stage a peaceful protest against Fisheries NSW at North Broulee this Saturday morning.
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The group said fisheries had ignored them and their cultural traditions, and fishing would form part of their protest on the south side of Broulee Island.
They said all were welcome from 10am.
They said they wanted to open a dialogue with the department and be granted rights similar to other indigenous groups around the world.
“Other governments departments work with us, but fisheries don’t,” member and Mogo resident Andrew Nye said.
“We want them to work with us, not prosecute us.”
Mr Nye, a licensed fifth-generation commercial fisherman, is referring to the many instances of Aboriginal fishermen being prosecuted in South Coast courts for violation of fisheries laws.
The group, which has a Facebook page with 972 members, was heartened by a High Court decision in November last year which ruled a South Australian father and son, Owen and Daniel Karpany, who were charged with having undersized greenlip abalone, were entitled to the catch under native title rights.
“It is our traditional right to fish and they are tearing famllies apart by leaving people with a criminal record for the rest of their lives,” Narooma's Wally Stewart said.
The group members also want to sell some of their catch for income.
“Do they want us to make a living or do they want us on the dole?” Mr Stewart said.
“We want to barter our catch.
"So many Aboriginal people live below the poverty line and so many of us rely on our resources to survive.
"We want to work with fisheries so we can get people off the dole, which will benefit everyone.”
The group wanted Aboriginal fishers to be able to use nets, but insists they would not be the sort of nets that devastated the environment.
“They are seine nets, which are the type of nets we used before Europeans arrived,” Mr Stewart said.
“We target species so there is no bycatch.”
Mr Stewart said that as custodians of the land, Aboriginal people had the right to fish.
“Ours is the oldest culture in the world, but we haven’t got the right to get a feed of fish,” he said.
“We’ve had enough.”
Mr Stewart said Saturday’s protest would be friendly and alcohol-free.
“If anyone turns up with alcohol, they will be asked to move on,” he said.
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