Indigenous-led Kimberley turtle and dugong plan seeks balance between hunting and conservation

A group of Kimberley traditional owners have banded together to improve sustainability of turtle and dugong hunting in the face of mounting pressure from climate change and a growing human population. The Kimberley Indigenous Saltwater Advisory Group last week launched the 10-year turtle and dugong initiative which lays out a plan to combine western science and traditional knowledge to better manage the marine megafauna and their habitats. The program’s aim is to ensure future generations of saltwater people can continue to undertake customary hunting rights under native title law while ensuring the practice does not risk turtle and dugong populations in the region — in particular green turtles, which are prized for their fat content. Yawuru Land and Sea Unit senior project officer Dean Mathews said the past two years had rammed home the need to better protect the Kimberley’s turtle and dugong stocks. “We as an Indigenous population are growing, our customary hunting practices are increasing, and we need to understand what is driving the take of turtle and dugong,” he said. “Broome is quite a costly town to live in. . . people in that low socio-economic situation in the community, we were finding they heavily relied on marine resources. “Especially when the COVID outbreak in WA hit, we saw increase in take of marine resources, with people preferring to go to the saltwater supermarket as opposed to the shopping centre.” While still in its infancy, the ISWAG hopes the formation of the program will serve as a beacon for funding of Indigenous knowledge, western marine science, and the building of two-way knowledge systems to underpin the management of turtles and dugongs for the next 50 years. Mr Mathews said the program would preference education over enforcement. “Within our communities, there are elements where the practice is unsustainable,” he said. “Under native title we have a right, be we also have a responsibility to ensure future generations can still undertake the activity we do.” The program covers more than 2000km of coastline spanning from the Nyangumarta and Karajarri, whose traditional lands include 80 Mile Beach, to the Balanggarra, who care for the far north-east Kimberley coast. Nyul Nyul ranger coordinator Neil Hamaguchi said the plan was a strong commitment to managing sea country. “We are cultural mob and we have a duty of care to keep our sea country healthy for our communities and our kids,” he said. Dambimangari ranger Pete O’Connor said the plan would give Indigenous people a chance to take charge in caring for country. A prospectus was released as part of the program which the ISWAG hopes will help attract investment for the likes of tertiary training, monitoring networks, and community liaison.