Smyth, 2006:

Indigenous initiatives in northern Australia

"Management of dugongs and marine turtles occurs as part of Indigenous peoples’ role in sea country management. Though Indigenous cultures differ from region to region, traditional Indigenous management of sea country and marine resources includes the following features:

• Control of access into coastal marine estates;
• Seasonal use of resources, often governed by ecological indicators (such as the flowering of particular plant species);
• Conduct of increase ceremonies to nurture the well-being of particular species;
• Restrictions imposed on individuals based on age, gender, initiation status, moiety and other cultural factors."

Indigenous initiatives in the Great Barrier Reef Region

"Many Aboriginal groups in the Great Barrier Reef region, as well as further south along the Queensland coast, have initiated marine resource management projects over the last ten years. Examples of these initiatives include:

• The preparation of a Sea Plan by members of the Lockhart River AboriginalCommunity in 1995, which includes strategies and actions for greater Aboriginal involvement in marine management, including commitment to monitor and sustainably use dugongs and marine turtles.
• The preparation of a Dugong and Marine Turtle Management Plan by the Hopevale Aboriginal Community in 1999, which won the Prime Minister’s Environment Award in 2000. This Plan has not been implemented consistently for several reasons, including: death of key elders and individuals, personnel changes at Hopevale and GBRMPA, lack of resources, and a federal ministerial decision in 2000 that prevented the managing agencies from issuing community hunting permits, even though such permits were a central  part of the Plan. Hopevale Community has collaborated over many years with researchers at James Cook University and staff of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) in relation to research and  management of dugongs and turtles.
• Voluntary agreements by several coastal Aboriginal groups to suspend dugong hunting in the southern Great Barrier Reef region due to declining dugong populations. The latest agreement, signed in July 2005, involves a Memorandum of Understanding between Juru, Gia and Ngaro Traditional  Owners from Ayr, Bowen and Proserpine and the Queensland Environmental Protection Authority to suspend dugong hunting and introduce a self managed permit system to control and monitor turtle hunting.
• Girringun Aboriginal corporation in Cardwell has developed a Sea Rangers program and negotiated a Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreement (TUMRA) as steps towards cooperative management of the part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park; Dugong and Marine Turtle Knowledge Handbook February 2005.
• Sea Forum, a collective of Aboriginal Traditional Owner groups from theSouthern Great Barrier Reef (from Cooktown south to Fraser Island), presented a discussion paper to Government in 1999 outlining ways forward for co-management of sea country, including co-management of dugongs and marine turtles127; Sea Forum, which is no longer functioning, was established in response to a Ministerial Council decision in 1997 to ban dugong hunting in the southern Great Barrier Reef."

Indigenous harvest

"Biologists and anthropologists have recorded the numbers of dugongs hunted at various times and locations, however there is little reliable information available to indicate the current level of Indigenous dugong harvest across northern Australia.

Researchers have expressed particular concern about the future of dugong populations in Torres Strait and off eastern Cape York Peninsula, due to apparently unsustainable levels of harvesting. Current research indicates that dugongs could become extinct in Torres Strait sometime between 40 and 120 years from now if current levels of dugong harvesting continues.

Turtles and eggs have been harvested by coastal people around the world for thousands of years but in recent times in some places such harvests (both commercial and subsistence) are no longer sustainable.

A small number of large Loggerhead turtles are harvested each year in Torres Strait and along the Papuan coast.

There are more Green turtles harvested in waters of northern Australia, eastern Indonesia and Papua New Guinea than any other region of the world. There are no accurate counts of the number of Green turtles harvested in this region, but it is estimated to be many tens of thousands, possible as much as 100,000, per year. In Australian waters, many thousands of Green turtles are harvested each year in Torres Strait, the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Top End of the Northern Territory, along the Kimberley coast and along the Queensland east coast (particularly north of Cooktown).

There are only small a number of Hawksbill turtles harvested across northern Australia. Hawksbill eggs, however, are harvested by Aboriginal and Torres Strait and communities across the north. As Hawksbills usually nest on islands, it may be particularly important to ensure that the Indigenous harvest in Torres Strait is sustainable.

An unknown number of Olive Ridley turtles and eggs are harvested across northern Australia.

Unknown numbers of Flatback turtles and eggs are harvested annually across northern Australia.

Leatherback turtles are rarely hunted in Australia."

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Citation and/or URL

Smyth, D. (2006). Dugong and marine turtle knowledge handbook:  indigenous and scientific knowledge of dugong and marine turtles in northern Australia. North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA).

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Spatial Coverage

Northern Australia including the GBR region

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Temporal Coverage

2006

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Update Frequency

Not applicable 

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Other Information

None