Who Can Fish in Tidal Waters on Aboriginal Land?
Director of Fisheries (Northern Territory) & anor v Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust & anor Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia [2001] FCA 98 Spender, Sackville, and Merkel JJ Appeal from the decision of Mansfield J in the Federal Court 23 February 2001 By Ron Levy In 1980, pursuant to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth) (‘the Land Rights Act’), a freehold title to the Arnhem Land Reserve (‘the Reserve’ – proclaimed an Aboriginal reserve since 1931) was granted to the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust (‘the Land Trust’) for the benefit of traditional Aboriginal owners and other Aboriginals interested in the land. Both the Reserve and the subsequent freehold title (known as Aboriginal land) extended to the low water mark of the seacoast, and included land located in the beds of rivers, streams and estuaries (including land below the low water mark such as near the mouths of these waterways, as fixed by a line across the seaward extremity of their ban
