Wally Stewart Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting 2023

Wally Stewart

Wally is a Walbunja man from the Yuin nation on the far south coast of NSW. Wally is also an applicant for the south coast native title claim and a member of NSW Aboriginal Fishing Rights Group. Wally is employed as an Operations Manager with Joonga Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation, working across research, tourism, training, and politics. Wally’s previous roles include as a NPWS Senior Field Supervisor in Byron Bay on the north coast of NSW, a member of the north coast whale disentanglement team and Incident Controller for Marine Mammal Standings, and as the Aboriginal Liaison Officer for NSW Marine Parks and Batemans Marine Park. Wally also volunteers his time working closely with AIASTSIS, Wollongong Uni (Blue Economy) and Oxfam Australia to build a foundation for economic development for his community. Wally’s passion is Aboriginal Fishing Rights, and he is working with his south coast Aboriginal communities to design a Sea Country Plan, and build a sustainable Aboriginal Fishing Business for the south coast communities. Wally believes if you have healthy land and Sea, you will have healthy Yuin people.