Indigenous traditional owners in remote West Arnhem Land have lost patience with being prohibited from selling valuable barramundi from their coastal waters, while commercial boats do just that.

Key points: West Arnhem coastal communities want a three-year commercial fishing industry ban

West Arnhem coastal communities want a three-year commercial fishing industry ban Traditional owners want to be allowed to sell barramundi from their waters

Traditional owners want to be allowed to sell barramundi from their waters The NT Government is hopeful of a Blue Mud Bay deal by June

Forty-two clan groups are threatening a three-year ban for commercial barramundi boats in coastal waters between Cape Stewart and Braithwaite Point if the Northern Territory Government and Northern Land Council (NLC) can't agree on a deal about the conditions for access to Indigenous Territory coastal waters.

The Arnhem Land traditional owners had hoped that after the 2008 Blue Mud Bay High Court decision, which returned 80 per cent of the Territory coastal waters to Indigenous people, they would get control of their sea country.

But the protracted negotiations between the Government and the NLC have dragged on for more than a decade.

Six months ago, traditional owners across the Territory agreed to allow continued permit-free access to their coastal waters until June, while the talks continued.

But the West Arnhem clans say they are sick of seeing barramundi boats strip their waters of high-value fish, while discarding other species and animals that are considered bycatch.

"There are big barramundi fishing boats coming in and there are big problems with them pulling up 300 metres away from the community, and getting tonnes and tonnes of barramundi in front of us," said a spokesman from the remote community of Maningrida, Julius Clint Kernan.

"They are taking too much from our country and we want a three-year ban on the barramundi fishermen coming in."

Fishermen in Maningrida use a beach net to catch mullet. ( Supplied: North Wind Fisheries Committee )

Locals barred from selling barramundi

The clans have banded together to form the North Wind Fisheries Committee.

Two years ago they established their own beach net fishing operation at Maningrida, a community that lies 500 kilometres north-east of Darwin and is home to 2,400 people.

Unlike commercial fishers with barramundi licences, under Aboriginal coastal fishing licences Indigenous traditional owners can only catch low-value fish species like blue mullet and trevally.

"We are not allowed to catch barramundi, threadfin salmon and Spanish mackerel. To me it's not fair, because we live here on the coast," Mr Kernan said.

"The unwanted catch that they [the commercial industry] have been catching, they are just letting it float; turtles, dugongs and sawfish that get stuck in the nets die and end up floating on our beaches.

"They are leaving us with all the dead fish and taking all the best products," he said.

The North Wind Fisheries Committee has not pulled the pin on access to its waters because the Land Council has been trying to gain benefits for coastal traditional owners in exchange for continued commercial and recreational fishing access.

The Land Council has asked for an agreement with the Government and commercial fishers that will guarantee help for Indigenous communities to participate in the industry.

It is also negotiating to get traditional owners rights to help manage fisheries.

Maningrida traditional owners like Don Wilton supply mullet to the Darwin fish market. ( ABC News: Lucy Marks )

'We want to create jobs'

But as the negotiations have dragged on, frustration has increased.

'We've been having meetings and meetings and meetings, but the process is very slow," Mr Kernan said.

Maningrida traditional owners received Territory and Federal Government funding to build a fish processing shed in 2018.

They sell their mullet and trevally in Maningrida every week, and to other nearby communities.

They also sell to the Darwin fish market in the dry season when roads are open — but they want to expand.

"We want to create more jobs, more employment for our people on the ground," Mr Kernan said.

"We would like to create our own enterprises here by catching barramundi and delivering it to Darwin, Melbourne, Adelaide, whoever wants the products from our country.

"Give us the barramundi licences, let us work on our country, and we can monitor how much fish we are taking out, and we can also monitor and protect our sacred sites in our waters."

Don Wilton dragging a net out to sea as the tide moves in. ( ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald )

Government offering to open door

The Territory Government has told the ABC it is hopeful that a deal can be struck on Blue Mud Bay by June, and it is holding out for the possibility one element will create an entry into the commercial fishing industry for the West Arnhem Land clans.

"The Northern Territory Government is working closely with the NLC and fishing stakeholder groups to develop a settlement proposal for consideration at the upcoming full council meeting in June," Primary Industries Minister Paul Kirby said.

"Key elements of this proposal include pathways for Aboriginal people in coastal communities such as Maningrida into commercial fishing [for species] such as barramundi and mud crab.

"This incorporates acquiring commercial licences in those fisheries, enhancing the existing Aboriginal coastal licences and supporting training and capacity-building programs."

The Minister said the Government also wants to legislate to give traditional owners "a real say in developing local fisheries management arrangements along with an enhanced role for Aboriginal marine rangers in monitoring our fisheries".

Julius Kernan from Maningrida said trawlers discard unwanted catch including turtles, dugongs and sawfish. ( Supplied: North Wind Fisheries Committee )

Blue Mud Bay 'actively progressing'

The Land Council's chief executive Marion Scrymgour said she wants the Maningrida fishermen's Aboriginal coastal licence to allow them to catch barramundi.

"These fishermen at Maningrida have successfully operated these licences for considerable time and have now essentially outgrown them," she said.

"Some localised harvesting such as this of barramundi won't be detrimental to the broader fish stocks or the commercial industry."

Ms Scrymgour said the Blue Mud Bay negotiations "have been actively progressing over recent months".

"There's goodwill among all parties involved and … significant positive progress is being made … and there'll be more news in the coming month or so," she said.

The NT Seafood Council declined to comment on the Indigenous fishers' frustration with the commercial fishing industry.

In 2017 it apologised to Maningrida traditional owners, acknowledging that the community has "increasing difficulty catching seafood after a professional [barramundi fishing boat] has been through".

The Seafood Council has held several meetings with the Maningrida community.

It has said there has been increased commercial fishing off Maningrida because barramundi licence holders have been banned from other areas including parts of Darwin Harbour, Shoal Bay, the Little Finnis River and Bynoe Harbour by the Territory Government, for reasons including increased recreational fishing amenity and indigenous sacred site closures.