The fishing industry says restaurants and fish markets around Australia are scrambling to secure barramundi, mud crabs and threadfin salmon after a snap decision closed key Northern Territory waters.
Commercial fishers have been banned from the East Alligator River and Mini Mini-Murgenella Creek estuaries.
The lockout has followed a failed attempt by the NT Government to negotiate commercial fishing access with the Northern Land Council, which represents traditional owners.
Barramundi fishers and crabbers had been preparing for their season in the rich coastal waters off Arnhem Land, east of Kakadu National Park.
The chair of the Barramundi Licensee Committee, Cameron Berryman, said he was shocked to hear they had been locked out of the area.
"The sudden closure impacts businesses, there's not much warning, and right at the start of the year when guys were spending money and preparing to go fishing, to know that you're not going to earn any income really hurts," he said.
"The initial investment to get fishing and operating for the season is up near $80,000 to $100,000 to buy your gear, packaging and fuel for your boat."
Mr Berryman said the lockout would have a significant impact on fish stocks around the country.
"NT wild-caught barramundi is about 60 per cent of the Australian market and about 70-75 per cent of the king threadfin comes from NT, so you'll see a massive reduction in fresh fish coming through the NT market," he said.
"And we've already got people trying to jump the queue to get their orders in, knowing they might be affected this year.
"I would think we would see a drop of about 60 to 70 per cent of our fresh stock coming out of Darwin, so it will be mainly frozen stock this year."
NT Seafood Council chief executive Katherine Winchester said the situation was particularly difficult for the industry because it wasn't involved in the talks, and didn't know what traditional owners objected to.
"Losing any areas for this fishery is just a crisis, there's only about five per cent to six per cent of the Territory coastline that is suited to productive barramundi fishing," she said.
"So it isn't as simple as just going somewhere else."
'We need to understand why'
Ms Winchester said commercial fishers were worried the Mini Mini area lockout could be the first of more closures, as the industry continues to try to negotiate long-term access to much of the rest of the NT coast.
"We've lost an area, we can't afford to lose any other areas around the coastline, so we have to learn from this experience," she said.
"This has sent shock waves through the whole industry."
"We need to understand why the answer was no and unpack that and learn from that."
The ABC has approached the ministers for Fisheries and Aboriginal Affairs but both were unavailable to be interviewed.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo said in a statement the Government was still negotiating with the Land Council about commercial fishing access to the Mini Mini area.
She said the offer made to traditional owners was rejected because "traditional owners cited they need more certainty over a number of key issues and prefer to negotiate longer term individual agreements with commercial operators".
The minister also said traditional owners wanted to know who was accessing their sea country and what commercial operators were taking from it.
The ABC contacted the Northern Land Council for comment, but hasn't received a response.
Traditional owners raise sustainability concerns
Kakadu marine ranger Dwayne Wauchope said many coastal traditional owners felt commercial fishers were catching too much near river mouths.
"Commercial netters, they're a big problem … they work with the tide, when the tide pushes out, everything gets stuck in there, they can't get out," he said.
"They put one net 50 metres across and on the other side they go up a bit, so they overlap each other."
Mr Berryman said the industry acted sustainably.
"We work a lot with researchers and fisheries to ensure we're not damaging the fishery, we want a sustainable fishery because a sustainable fishery is a good business," he said.
In the negotiations, traditional owners have been asking for financial support for Indigenous fishing businesses, and fisheries jobs, since their rights to most of the NT coast were recognised by the High Court in its 2008 Blue Mud Bay decision.
