Divers Who Faced Jail for Cultural Fishing Lead Sea Urchin Recovery

Landline

Topic: Fishing and Aquaculture Industry

Sun 17 May 2026 at 7:04am

John Carriage diving for a sea urchin.

In short:

Two Walbunja divers who were facing jail time for cultural fishing are now training to be professional sea urchin divers.

The NSW government is supporting the plan with a $1.48 million investment. The grant will be used for various purposes.

What's next?

The grant will be used to develop Indigenous-branded sea urchin products and to develop an organic fertiliser product.

Walbunja diver John Carriage has been hunting and gathering in the ocean since he was a young child.

Cultural fishing is an enduring tradition for John Carriage and his elders.

Just months ago, he was facing a possible 10-year jail term for practising a cultural fishing tradition.

I've been to court around four times, it's not a good look for our culture.

Walbunja divers John and Denzel Carriage were facing jail time for cultural fishing.

After decades of defending their traditional fishing rights, Aboriginal custodians are now fighting to safeguard their saltwater culture.

The long-spined sea urchin has exploded in numbers, transforming 50 per cent of the shallow reefs into barren wastelands.

Half of southern NSW's nearshore reefs are now urchin barrens.

But there is a solution to this ecological crisis.

The NSW government is backing a plan for an Aboriginal-led sea urchin fishery on the south coast.

As part of the plan, John Carriage and his cousin Denzel will train as professional urchin divers.

Jamie has entered into a partnership with Indigenous non-profit Joonga Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation.

Every time we're taking a sea urchin out, we're allowing the weed to regrow.

Jamie Newman dives for a sea urchin on the NSW south coast.

A 'Goldilocks zone' for sea urchins

While decades of overfishing have allowed sea urchins to proliferate, rising sea temperatures are extending their range.

Marine Biologist Cayne Layton said the warming ocean had created a 'Goldilocks zone' on the NSW south coast.

Cayne Layton says there is extraordinary potential for recovery once urchin densities are reduced.

Southern NSW has some of the largest barrens and some of the largest increases in the areas of those barrens.

But he pointed to evidence of the extraordinary potential for recovery once urchin densities were reduced.

At a trial site at Merimbula, a diverse selection of kelp and seaweed has started to grow back in just 10 months.

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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.

'They called it poaching, we called it survival'

Walbunja elder Newton Carriage holds a black and white photo taken by photographer Ricky Maynard in 1989.

Newton Carriage holds a photo taken by Ricky Maynard in 1989.

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.

They called it poaching, we called it survival. We were surviving in our own country.

Newton's grandson Denzel is now the third generation to face the court system over cultural fishing.

Denzel Carriage at Bingie, NSW.

In recent years, a string of prosecutions of Aboriginal cultural fishers have been withdrawn or dismissed.

Tillmann Boehme from the University of Wollongong is a supply chain specialist.

Tillmann Boehme has been working with the south coast Aboriginal community to develop a sea country plan.

We have an Aboriginal community that has been dispossessed of their sea country, dispossessed of their resources.

Denzel Carriage is training to become a professional sea urchin diver.

Healing sea country

Walbunja elder Wally Stewart takes the helm of Jamie Newman's boat as John and Denzel enter the water.

You can see them in the water, they're just natural divers, taught by cultural fishermen.

And they've never been given that opportunity to be part of an industry like this.

John Carriage harvesting sea urchin on the NSW south coast.

As part of their training, Jamie will teach them to dive with supplied air and to select and process export-quality urchins.

Wally Stewart sees an opportunity for the young divers to be seen as role models in their community.

Wally Stewart says it is time to teach the younger generation.

We need the next generation to take that lead for us now.

John and Denzel Carriage are set to take a leading role in the restoration of their traditional sea country.

Watch ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm AEST on Sunday or stream anytime on ABC iview.

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Sun 17 May 2026 at 7:04am

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