The Northern Land Council has denied it intends to restrict the access commercial and recreational fishers have to significant stretches of the Northern Territory coastline within weeks.
A notice published by the powerful statutory authority on Friday suggested people would need a permit to access some intertidal zones from the beginning of next year.
It also suggested permits would be required in some other areas from the beginning of March.
But NLC chief executive officer Marion Scrymgour denied that was the case, saying the notice was published to formally extend a moratorium on permit requirements until March.
"The notice was making sure that from the 1st of January, no-one was breaking the law if they went into those areas," she said.
"That's what's important about the gazettal notice."
On Friday, the notice "blindsided" fishing industry groups and surprised the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade, Nicole Manison, who said it went against a commitment made in August that permits would be waived until December 2022.
In a Facebook status, recreational fishing body the Amateur Fishermen's Association NT accused the land council of unexpectedly throwing the industry "under a bus".
The NLC has periodically extended permit-free access to the intertidal zones while negotiations around their use continue. The discussions follow a landmark ruling granting traditional owners exclusive access to waters on Aboriginal land.
The existing waiver expires at the end of this year.
Ms Scrymgour said the extension until March would give the land council time to finish consultations with stakeholder groups before permits could formally be waived until 2022, per the August agreement.
She insisted that information was conveyed to stakeholders during a meeting earlier this week, and said she was surprised by later comments in the media.
"It beggars belief that everyone thinks the Northern Land Council has walked away from the spirit of the agreement," Ms Scrymgour said.
"I made it really clear to all of the stakeholders at the meeting on Wednesday that there were still a number of traditional owners along that coastline that the Northern Land Council still needed to [consult].
"It is a long and drawn-out process."
