Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: Up to $500,000
- Application opened: 28 November 2024
- Application closed: 16 February 2025, 5:00 pm
Program objective
The objectives of the Aboriginal Fishing Trust Fund are to provide financial support for:
- The enhancement, maintenance and protection of Aboriginal cultural fishing, and
- Economic opportunities for Aboriginal communities associated with the fisheries resource.
This program is administered by Fisheries and Forestry.
Eligibility
Who can apply
To be eligible for funding applicants must be either:
- An Aboriginal person,
- An Aboriginal entity, which includes a family/clan or community organisation, or an Aboriginal owned and run business, or
- A person acting on behalf of an Aboriginal entity.
Please refer to section 2.1.1 for definitions of these terms, and section 2.1.2 eligibility evidence and other requirements within the Aboriginal Fishing Trust Guidelines for Applicants.
Types of projects funded under this grant
The Aboriginal Fishing Trust Fund program looks to provide funding to a wide variety of projects. Priority areas for funding may include projects that fall into one or more of the following six platforms:
- Education and training
- Fishing access and facilities
- Cultural fishing enhancement
- Aquatic habitat rehabilitation and protection
- Economic opportunities
- Research
What costs you can't apply for
Projects that would not receive favourable consideration, or would be considered a low priority include:
- Projects that have limited benefit to the Aboriginal community
- Cultural celebrations that do not have a high education value
- Payment of commercial fishing management fees/staff wages
- Reimbursements for expenses incurred prior to funding being approved
- Expenses not directly related to delivering the activity, such as office rent, receptionist, utilities, and the costs of developing this application.
Grants are not available for the purchase of fishing shares in a share management fishery, unless those shares are to be held by the Fisheries Administration Ministerial Corporation. See section 1.4.1 on ‘Purchase of fishing assets and fishing shares’ of the Aboriginal Fishing Trust Guidelines for Applicants for more information.
Example projects
- Cultural fishing workshops; schools education, fishing advisory including cultural fishing signage; business training; capacity building, equipment training
- Maintaining and protection of fishing access to culturally significant areas; cultural fishing signage at entrances to waterways
- Fish stocking of culturally significant species; assistance to negotiate and participate in Local Management Plans; artificial reefs
- Improving fish habitat; protecting habitat from invasive species; cultural improvements (e.g. totemic or food species)
- Purchase of wild harvest fishing entitlements (shares); aquaculture (finfish, yabbies, mussels, oysters, algae); ranching (abalone, scallops, sea cucumbers, pipis, urchins); purchase of existing charter fishing business; cultural tourism; post-harvest sector investment
- Assessment of cultural harvest activities; addressing impacts on cultural fishing or cultural resource
What your application needs to include
Prepare your application with this checklist
Not applicable.
Address the eligibility criteria
Each applicant, as part of an application response, must confirm that they meet the eligibility criteria.
Applicants that do not address the eligibility criteria in full may be excluded from the application process at the department's discretion.
Address the assessment criteria
Selection criteria for grants and loans includes both Eligibility and the four weighted Merit Criteria.
The application process is competitive, and applications will be assessed on their merits and competitively against the other applications.
- The project will address one of the Aboriginal Fishing Trust Fund objectives (20% weighting)
- The value and extent of benefit to Aboriginal community (20% weighting)
- Cost effectiveness, value for money and sound budgeting (30% weighting)
- The capacity and commitment to undertake and complete the project (30% weighting)
See section 2 of the Aboriginal Fishing Trust Guidelines for Applicants for more information.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: NSW Minister for Agriculture
Aboriginal Fishing Trust Expenditure Committee
An expert-based committee called the Aboriginal Fishing Trust Expenditure Committee will assess and rank project applications against the merit criteria and provide its views to the Aboriginal Fishing Advisory Council. The Expenditure Committee may request for the Department to contact applicants seeking clarification of information in the applications or further supporting material. Advice from the NSW Rural Assistance Authority will be referred to the Aboriginal Fishing Advisory Council for a decision on whether a loan should be recommended to the Minister for approval.
Aboriginal Fishing Advisory Council
A further review of applications will be undertaken by the Aboriginal Fishing Advisory Council with consideration to the advice of the Aboriginal Fishing Trust Expenditure Committee (and the NSW Rural Assistance Authority in regard to loan applications). The Aboriginal Fishing Advisory Council then provides its formal views to the Minister for final decision making.
Decision Making
The decision maker for the Program is the Minister for Agriculture.
The decision maker will:
- review the availability of grant funds,
- the recommendations of the Expenditure Committee, the NSW Rural Assistance Authority and the Aboriginal Fishing Advisory Council and,
- the outcomes of the eligibility cull (where relevant).
Anticipated assessment outcome date is 6-8 months after closing date