Across the globe, First Nations and Indigenous Peoples have been and continue to negotiate recognition of their fishing rights and for their knowledge and interests to be directly accounted for in intersectoral allocation and fisheries management. Recognition of and engagement with Indigenous fishing interests in current fisheries management, in resource sharing policies and allocation, is in various stages of development across Australia. At the same time and at the more operational level, harvest strategies are being developed which include Indigenous and cultural fishing, but greater guidance is required regarding harvest strategy settings which recognise the importance of and account for the cultural, social, and economic impacts on local abundance and availability of fish stocks for Traditional Owners and local Indigenous communities.
In this presentation we will present emerging findings from a review of approaches and policies developed internationally and domestically for incorporating Indigenous Rights, knowledge, practices and catch into fisheries management frameworks, with a focus on harvest strategies. The intention is to stimulate further discussion on these issues among conference participants, particularly in order to identify how insights from this review can be adopted in the different state, territory and Commonwealth jurisdictions in Australia.