Sixty years ago commercial licenses were handed out to Australian fishers working in the lucrative shellfish industry. Since then, the families that obtained those licenses have made fortunes. 

But many Aboriginal people whose ancestors have fished along the coast for tens of thousands of years have been locked out of the trade.

Aboriginal fishers, like Yuin elder Keith Nye, have been described as “poachers” by industry and government, and face jail time for selling what they catch. 

Today, writer for The Monthly Paul Cleary on the trial of Keith Nye and his fight against the criminalisation of his culture. 

Guest: Writer for The Monthly Paul Ceary.

Background reading: A load of abalone in The Monthly

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