Recreational fishers will have access to more areas of Aboriginal sea country in the Northern Territory following extensive consultations between the Northern Land Council and Traditional Owners.
Effective immediately, recreational fishers will be able to access newly opened areas when they sign-up via the simple and free Blue Mud Bay Registration process on the NLC website.
The following areas are now marked as yellow on the map, meaning they are available to be accessed once recreational fishers have registered. Blue Mud Bay Registration is valid through to the end of December 2022.
- East Alligator River
- The tidal waters from De Courcy Head south along to Marligur Creek
- The tidal waters around North Goulburn Island and most of South Goulburn Island
- The tidal waters from Turner Point east along the coast to Junction Bay
“The NLC has been working hard and consulting widely with our mob about what they want to do with their sea country. There are certain areas where Traditional Owners are now welcoming fishers to their waters once they have registered and the map reflects those changes,” NLC Chairman Samuel Bush-Blanasi said.
“The Blue Mud Bay Registration has proved successful. From the launch of the process on 1 March this year until today, there have been 1,626 recreational fishers automatically granted access to the tidal waters marked in yellow,” Mr Bush-Blanasi said.
NLC Sea Country Program, Senior Project Coordinator Brenton Cardona said the areas marked in red on the map are currently restricted and consultation are still on-going with Traditional Owners.
“Our team is still in the process of negotiating with Traditional Owners and the Northern Territory Government regarding access to closed areas,” Mr Cardona said.
“Recreational fishers need to respect the decisions of Traditional Owners and not enter those areas that are off limits. For cultural, environment or commercial reasons Traditional Owners don’t want visitors to fish in these areas,” Mr Cardona said.
