A NSW Parliamentary committee heard story after story of injustice to Aboriginal fishermen when it held a community roundtable in Narooma on Thursday, July 28.
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The roundtable was part of an inquiry that was established in November 2021 to investigate why legislative provisions for Aboriginal cultural fishing, passed in 2009, have not yet commenced in law.
The committee invited people including affected individuals and representatives of the South Coast Aboriginal Fishing Rights Group and Katungul Aboriginal Corporation Regional Health and Community Services to speak.
The media were asked not to quote the speakers by name.
The committee heard about someone who went through "eight years of hell" over three kilograms of abalone, how one man's son copped fines totalling $50,000, which he is still paying off, how a fisherman went to jail for three months for having under-sized abalone, and one fisherman who is five years and eight months into a court battle and will be sentenced next week.
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Speakers said some of the fish caught was sold commercially, some was used for ceremonies and other special occasions and some was bartered for meat and vegetables.
It is our fishing. We say cultural fishing so you can put it in a box and put fences around it. We have to find a better language to communicate how we feel. Some of the stories you have heard today will help.
- A South Coast fisherman speaking at the roundtable in Narooma on Thursday, July 28
"Prosecution is not the right way to manage the fish population or us," one man said. "It is unfair, unjust and un-everything."
The committee heard that restrictions around cultural fishing have impacted the fishermen's health - their diet, exercise, kinship and mental health.
The speakers were worried about their ability to pass on their cultural practices to their children and grandchildren, meaning their knowledge would be lost.
One man spoke of his people being the original people and original caretakers of the country and of their spiritual connection with the land.
"We have looked after it from the day dot," he said. "The knowledge and wisdom are there for everyone to share."
The committee members were left in no doubt about the importance of cultural fishing to the Aboriginal people.
One member said, "there was no way we would have this inquiry without coming here. Some of it is clearly painful. I am still trying to get my head around it."
The second and final hearing is on August 19, at Parliament House in Sydney.
The committee will pose questions to representatives from the relevant government departments who will be under oath.
