Abalone rights reap benefits
The sefish belonged to us for thousands y ears and that’s been taken away Rodney Dillon
A BUSINESS case exploring the benefits of Indigenous Tasmanian access to wildcaught abalone is in development.
Currently, it is illegal for Tasmania’s Aboriginal people to harvest or on-sell cultural catches of abalone and otherhigh-valueseafood.
Palawa elder and co-chair of the Tasmanian Indigenous group TRACA, Rodney Dillon, hopes to have these historical restrictions overturned.
He said cultural people should have access to abalone caught from local waterways in order to continue practising their belief systems. He also wants his group to have a say in the management of the state’s abalone fisheries, with the aim of creating a more sustainable industry.
“These fish belonged to us for thousands of years and that’s been taken away and they don’t even involve us in the management of it,” he said. “I’ve been talking to government about this issue for30years.”
Mr Dillon said a return of rights to catch abalone would give his group a level of selfdetermination.
“It’s about Indigenous rights to the resource. It’s about respecting those rights and the rights to practise our culture,” said John Clark, chair of the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association Incorporated.
TRACA’s business case to have access to 40 abalone units–or quota–is beingde-veloped by corporate commonwealth entity ILSC (Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation) and is built on research findings by former IMAS academic and trawlwulwuy wo man Emma Lee.
The abalone units, known as the Furneaux quota, are state government-controlled licences distributed annually to the highest bidder. They are additional to the near 3500 total licences sold each year to those with commercial and recreational fishing interests. The annual value of the collective 40 quota is an estimated$900,000.
Access to the Furneaux quota by TRACA would put ownership of a cultural food back in the hands of Indigenous Tasmanians.
Dr Lee, researcher and author of Wave to Plate: Establishing a market for cultural fisheries in Tasmania, said the cultural implications of having access to the abalone quota went far beyond having“a feed ”.
“We can transform fisheries from being just profit to having social impact,” Dr Lee said.
“It’s about employment and business. It’s about young people and reducing juvenile justice by creating employment paths for our youth. It’s about hearing the voices of Aboriginal people and working with government to support our rights. Our food sovereignty is really important. Our identity as Tasmanians is tied up in food and we don’t want to lose that thread.”
Primary Industries and Water Minister Guy Barnett expected to release an analysis of his department’s findings on the topic in early 2021.
The report is independent from the IL SC business case.