An Australian court has affirmed in a landmark decision that Aborigines have native title over the seas, but rejected a bid by an indigenous community in the far north to win exclusive rights to their waters and the seabed.
The High Court rejected a government appeal against an earlier ruling handing native title more than 3,300 square km of sea and seabed to Aborigines on Croker Island, off the Northern Territory.
"The decision means our native title rights over the seas have survived despite colonisation," said Mr Geoff Clark, chairman of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
The Croker Island decision did not allow the Aboriginal community any commercial rights to the seas and does not mean fishing firms will have to pay for exploiting the resources in the waters.
Newspapers have reported that another 120 native title claims over sea and seabeds were in the pipeline.