Divers who faced jail for cultural fishing lead sea urchin recovery

John Carriage diving for a sea urchin. (ABC Landline: Wayne Carberry) Two Walbunja divers who were facing jail time for cultural fishing are now training to be professional sea urchin divers as part of an Aboriginal-led sea country restoration plan on the NSW south coast. The NSW government is supporting the plan with a $1.48 million investment. The grant will be used to develop Indigenous-branded sea urchin products, to streamline urchin processing and to develop an organic fertiliser product from leftover shells. Link copiedShareShare articleWalbunja diver John Carriage has been hunting and gathering in the ocean since he was a young child, clinging onto his father's back as he first learned to duck dive. Cultural fishing is an enduring tradition for John Carriage and his elders. (ABC Landline: Vanessa Milton) Just months ago, he was facing a possible 10-year jail term for practising a cultural fishing tradition handed down by his elders in a case was abandoned by state prosecutors 11 days into the trial. "I've been to court around four times," he said. "It's not a good look for our culture and it scares a lot of the next generation to do what we do." Walbunja divers John and Denzel Carriage were facing jail time for cultural fishing. (ABC Landline: Vanessa Milton) After decades of defending their traditional fishing rights in the courts, Aboriginal custodians on the NSW south coast are now fighting to safeguard their saltwater culture from an even greater, existential threat. The long-spined sea urchin, endemic to NSW, has exploded in numbers, transforming 50 per cent of the shallow reefs that have sustained south coast people for millennia into barren, white-rock wastelands. Half of southern NSW's nearshore reefs are now urchin barrens. (Supplied: Great Southern Reef Foundation) But there is a solution to this ecological crisis. The NSW government is now backing a plan for an Aboriginal-led sea urchin fishery on the south coast, with a $1.48 million grant to advance sustainable sea urchin management and Indigenous-branded product development. As part of the plan, John Carriage and his cousin Denzel will train as professional urchin divers under the guidance of diver and exporter Jamie Newman. Jamie has entered into a partnership with Indigenous non-profit Joonga Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation. He is passionate about building a "forever industry" that regenerates the reef ecosystem. "Every time we're taking a sea urchin out, we're allowing the weed to regrow," he said. Jamie Newman dives for a sea urchin on the NSW south coast. (ABC Landline: Wayne Carberry) While decades of overfishing of urchin predators like grouper, snapper and crayfish have allowed sea urchins to proliferate in NSW, rising sea temperatures are extending their range into Victoria and Tasmania, devastating kelp forests across a 2,000-kilometre stretch of Australia's Great Southern Reef. Marine Biologist Cayne Layton said the warming ocean had created a "Goldilocks zone" on the NSW south coast, where conditions for the sea urchins were optimal. Cayne Layton says there is extraordinary potential for recovery once urchin densities are reduced. (ABC Landline: Vanessa Milton) "Southern NSW in particular has some of the largest barrens and some of the largest increases in the areas of those barrens," Dr Layton said. But he pointed to evidence of the extraordinary potential for recovery once urchin densities were reduced. At a trial site at Merimbula, where 30,000 urchins were removed by a local recreational fishing group, a diverse selection of kelp and seaweed has started to grow back in just 10 months. Instructions: Use left and right arrow keys to control image transition SLIDE A trial site at Merimbula Wharf where sea urchins were removed as part of a habitat restoration project. / Seaweed and kelp growing back at the same site 10 months later.With that potential comes the chance to develop a restorative fishery and to right the wrongs of the past. "The urchin industry is relatively new in Australia, and there's a real opportunity for traditional custodians to be at the centre of this industry, rather than at the margins of it as we've seen with other fisheries in the past," Dr Layton said. Walbunja elder Newton Carriage holds a black and white photo taken by photographer Ricky Maynard in 1989, documenting the enduring tradition of Aboriginal cultural fishing on the south coast. Newton Carriage holds a photo taken by Ricky Maynard in 1989. (ABC Landline: Vanessa Milton) In the photo, Newton and his cousin Keith Nye are showing Newton's son Shane how to prepare abalone after a dive. Both Keith and Shane later served jail terms for harvesting their traditional sea resources. Details of Ricky Maynard's 1989 photo document cultural fishing traditions on the NSW south coast. (Supplied: Ricky Maynard) "They called it poaching, we called it survival," Newton said. "We were surviving in our own country."

Divers who faced jail for cultural fishing lead sea urchin recovery

Key takeaways

More in international