This is a statement based on a ruling by the High Court of Australia which unanimously held that successive Commonwealth and Queensland legislation, which prohibited taking fish and other aquatic life for commercial purposes without a licence, did not extinguish the native title right of certain island communities in the Torres Strait to take resources from defined areas of water. The Court unanimously held that certain reciprocity based rights between members of the island communities did not constitute native title rights and interests within the meaning of s 223 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).