Dobbs, 2007:

"Traditional use of marine resources of the Marine Park is very important in the culture of Indigenous coastal peoples. The activities associated with traditional use of marine resources have great significance and express the continuance of long cultural traditions. For Traditional Owners the spiritual relationship with ‘country’ (land or sea) has been likened to that with a favourite member of the family: to be loved, nurtured, cared for and above all, respected. The practise of traditional use of  marine resources by Traditional Owners, an integral part of the relationship with country, is steeped in ancient lore and ritual developed over millennia. Great importance is placed on the social sharing of food with members of the family.  Marine resource use strengthens Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and demonstrates connection with tradition and sea country.

Permits under the previous regulatory management approach

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people needed to apply for permits to undertake traditional activities like fishing, collecting and hunting in the Marine Park. With the first successful Native Title determinations (per Brennan J. Mabo v Queensland (no. 2) (1992) 175 CLR1 at 58.61) handed down by the Australian High Courts, much uncertainty developed as to who required permits and how the current marine park zoning provisions applied to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (See Native Title matters below). As a result of that ground breaking court decision and other precedent setting decisions about the application of Native Title in the Australian legal system, at least one Queensland Native Title Representative Body had advised Traditional Owner clients in their area not to apply for permits to undertake traditional activities because the granting of permits might have infringed their future Native Title rights in response to the decision in De Rose Hill v State of South Australia [2002] FCA 1342.

Other Traditional Owners advised the GBRMPA that they did not want to use the GBRMPA permit system for conducting traditional activities in sea country. Instead they expressed the desire to develop and manage their own community-based plans. However throughout this period many Traditional Owner communities and individuals became increasingly disillusioned with a lack of official and/or community  response to their efforts to manage their own use of marine resources through community-based permits. Some Traditional Owners who demonstrated their commitment to sustainable use of marine resources found that they were unable to enforce their own management regimes.

Because these issues were not addressed in the previous Marine Park zoning plans, unmonitored and unsanctioned hunting of dugongs and green turtles occurred, despite compliance efforts.

Reporting

Although permits generally required permittees to report details of activities, especially hunting, few permittees complied with this permit condition and there was little follow up by the GBRMPA to gather the information. However the information on actual numbers of animals hunted is critical for determining whether traditional use of marine resources is occurring on a sustainable basis within the context of all the other mortality factors impacting upon the species.

Compliance

Traditional Owners and the GBRMPA were concerned about anecdotal reports of poaching of marine turtles and dugongs from the Marine Park. Traditional Owners continuously raised issues with the GBRMPA about non-Traditional Owners not following cultural protocols by not seeking permission from them before undertaking traditional hunting, fishing or collecting activities in their sea country. Of primary importance to the GBRMPA was the need to reduce the amount of poaching activities of marine turtles and dugongs. An important objective for designing a new  framework for traditional use of marine resources activities for Traditional Owner Groups Reef-wide, was to reduce the amount of poaching of marine turtles and dugongs and reduce the amount of traditional hunting activities that were conducted without the consent of the Traditional Owners or permission from the GBRMPA. 

On ground compliance activities were difficult to progress under previous arrangements because there was no way of identifying whether someone was a Traditional Owner for a particular part of the Marine Park or had sought permission from the Traditional Owners to undertake extractive activities for that part of the Marine Park. This uncertainty led to many incidents not being progressed." 

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Citation and/or URL

Dobbs, K.A. (2007). A Reef-wide framework for managing traditional use of marine resources in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/21885/reef-wide_framework_for_managing_tumra.pdf

Spatial Coverage

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Temporal Coverage

2007

Update Frequency

 Not applicable 

Other Information

 None