Daley et al., 2008:

Daley et al. (2008) reported the historical exploitation of marine resources in Queensland has only been partially documented. In particular, the history of the commercial fishing of dugongs and marine turtles has received comparatively little scholarly attention. Since European settlement in Queensland, various human activities have exploited these resources. Daley et al. (2008) present documentary and oral history evidence of the scale of those industries. Based on extensive archival and oral history research, they argue that diverse fishing practices occurred and that the sustained exploitation of dugongs, green turtles, and hawksbill turtles led to observable declines in the numbers of these animals – now species of conservation concern.

"Dugongs were captured for the manufacture of medicinal oil, which was used in Aboriginal settlements between 1940 and 1971, and they have also been hunted for their meat by Indigenous Australians – a practice which long pre-dates European settlement and which continues today. The combined effect of these activities probably amounts to unsustainable exploitation – at least at particular times and in  localised areas – that may have reduced dugong numbers considerably. Declining dugong numbers were reported as early as the 1880s and the species obtained legal protection in 1888, indicating that dugong populations have been threatened by human activity for longer than a century. Although the relative ecological effect of Indigenous Australian hunting of dugongs and of the historical European commercial fisheries have not been precisely determined, both factors (in addition to other  impacts, such as variations in seagrass availability) have probably contributed to declines in dugong numbers.

European commercial dugong fishing took place intermittently from 1847 until 1969 in the Moreton Bay area and for shorter periods at other locations on the Queensland coast. Dugong oil, hides, bones and meat were produced at stations in Moreton, Tin Can, Wide, Hervey and Rodds Bays, and also at a small dugong factory in Cardwell, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Although the industry had declined by 1920, commercial dugong fishing occurred in the Moreton Bay area from 1847 until 1969.

From 1870, dugong oil, hides, tusks, and bones were exported from Queensland to New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Britain, and Canada (SCQ Statistics). Quantities of oil exported from Queensland from 1870 to 1902 show considerable fluctuations, although some large  quantities of oil were shipped. In addition to the oil, 291 dugong hides and 4 cwt of dugong bones were exported to Great Britain between 1876 and 1878 (SCQ and SSQ Statistics). The hides were used to manufacture leather products; the bones were used to produce ornamental cutlery handles. Soap was also manufactured using dugong stearin (the material that remained in the filters after the oil had been drained) and this product was exported to London. However, despite the lucrative prospects of the export trade and Hobbs’ efforts to secure an overseas market for dugong products, the majority of the dugong oil, hides, and bones were sold at the Brisbane markets, while the meat was cured and sold – or given away – at the fishing stations.

By 1888, the low reproductive rate of the dugong was beginning to be appreciated. Fison stated that dugongs ‘breed once a year, and have only one calf at a time’. Modern research indicates that dugongs actually breed much less often than this (Marsh & Kwan 2008). Fison also reported that of the 16 dugongs caught in Moreton Bay in 1888, almost all ‘were cows in calf, or the young calves were found attending the mother’. The unsustainability of such a harvest was recognised and restrictions on dugong fishing in Moreton Bay were introduced for a two-year period under the Queensland Fisheries Act (1887) in an attempt to prevent ‘the utter extermination of the herd’. By 1889, the sporadic presence of a small herd of dugongs had been reported on the western side of Moreton Island, but Fison stated that these animals were protected under the same clause of the Queensland Fisheries Act (1887). 

Fison’s reports indicate that concerns about the unsustainability of the harvest prompted an early legal intervention to conserve dugongs in Queensland. The excessive destruction of dugongs was also reported in 1890 by William Saville-Kent: "a great amount of harm is done to the legitimate dugong fishery through the wasteful destruction of the animal in Wide Bay by means of harpooning, and also through the extensive slaughter of the young calves" (Saville-Kent 1890).

Saville-Kent recommended that dugong fishing should be restricted exclusively to the use of stake-nets with a mesh-size of at least one yard square, which he believed would allow the calves to escape. In 1892, the restrictions on the dugong fishery expired and commercial dugong fishing recommenced at North Stradbroke  Island. Concerns about the unsustainability of the fishery had not been allayed. In response to the scale of the resumption in dugong fishing, a second two-year closure was introduced on 1 January 1893. That closure was rescinded in June of the same year after large herds of dugongs entered Moreton Bay; a migration attributed to the extensive flooding in south-eastern Queensland during February 1892 (Johnson 1988). The complete closure of the fishery was replaced with an annual three-month open season. Harpooning was prohibited and a more comprehensive licensing system was introduced (Welsby 1907). By the end of 1893, the Queensland commercial dugong fisheries had been regulated in a way similar to  other commercial fisheries, with restrictions of permitted equipment and with spatial  and temporal closures of fishing grounds.

In contrast to southern Queensland waters, Saville-Kent stated that the northern Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait had no systematic dugong fishery, although Indigenous hunting of dugongs occurred in those regions. Fison reported that the dugong fishery in Moreton Bay was successful during the open season of 1894, yet by 1896 dugongs were again scarcely caught in Moreton Bay, although Fison later acknowledged that the animals remained numerous in the northern Great Barrier Reef (Fison 1896). Thereafter, the dugong industry failed to supply a significant market for oil and only a small, intermittent fishery existed between 1900 and the 1920s."

 

 

 

 

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Citation and/or URL

Daley, B., Griggs, P. & Marsh, H., 2008,  Exploiting Marine Wildlife in Queensland:  The Commercial Dugong and Marine Turtle Fisheries, 1847-1969.  Australian Economic History Review 48(3): 227-265.

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Spatial Coverage

Queensland

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Temporal Coverage

1847-1969

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Update Frequency

 Not applicable 

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Other Information

 See also dugong commercial hunting and status