Title

Developing sustainable community-based management for dugongs and green turtles in the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Objective

To assist the Indigenous peoples of Cape York and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) in their efforts to develop a functional framework for the sustainable community-based management of dugongs and green turtles.

A research protocol will be negotiated with the relevant community to ensure a cooperative and participatory approach to the project, recognition of Indigenous intellectual property rights and access to data. The project, which will be conducted according to the draft statement of principles regarding biophysical research into Aboriginal lands, islands and waters of Cape York Peninsula will be developed by the Cape York Land Council.

Relevance

The traditional way of life of the residents of communities such as Hopevale and Lockhart River is dependent on the continued sustainable use of dugongs and green turtles. Additional information is required as the basis of a plan for their sustainable harvest.

Feasibility

The methodology for the western science aspects of the project is largely developed at James Cook University. Support for the project from the relevant community is essential and the details will need to be negotiated with the traditional owners.

Methodology

1. The scientific basis for sustainable co-management will be improved by developing methodology to estimate the absolute abundance of dugongs for incorporation into appropriate harvesting models, by:

1. developing the methods to estimate the absolute abundance of dugongs (see Project 4)
2. estimating the absolute abundance of dugongs in the sea country of the relevant community using aerial survey methodology and incorporating this estimate into harvesting models to estimate a sustainable catch.

2. Assisting in the development of community - based management through activities including:

1. designing and testing methodologies to incorporate Aboriginal knowledge of dugongs and green turtles in management decisions. (Dr Andrew Smith documented relevant traditional knowledge of the Hopevale and Lockhart communities in the 1980s but additional contemporary documentation is of local knowledge is required).
2. developing culturally sensitive public education materials (e.g. video, interactive computer programs) which incorporate both Aboriginal and western scientific knowledge of dugongs and green turtles in association with GBRMPA
3. training community rangers to: (1) collect biological samples and data as part of the dugong and turtle monitoring program being developed by some communities; (2) participate in dugong aerial surveys as observers
4. facilitating an exchange of information between community elders and Indigenous officers of the overseas bodies practising community-based management, such as the Alaskan Eskimo Whaling Commission, with a view to their sharing information relevant to the sustainable cooperative management of marine wildlife.
5. facilitating workshops to: (1) explore the Native Title implications of co-management with traditional owners; (2) train community members to write proposals to gain funding for co-management activities and training
6. developing material to educate the wider Australian community about the significance and practice of hunting of dugongs and green turtles. (Concerns of the wider community were documented by Dr Fernando Ponte, in his PhD in 1996.)

Cost

$300 000 ($100 000 per year for three years). Some funding is available via a Pew Fellowship to Helene Marsh, JCU; additional funding has been obtained form ARC SPIRT.