Kimberley traditional owners hail new marine parks a chance to connect with country, share knowledge

Traditional owners hope a new network of marine parks in the Kimberley will help more people get back on country where knowledge can be shared with children and rangers can engage in traditional care and fishing practices. WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti, and Fisheries Minister Don Punch in Broome on Sunday announced the creation of Bardi Jawi Gaara, Mayala and Maiyalam marine parks, the first such parks co-designed with traditional owners. The parks will cover more than 600,000ha of sea country in the Buccaneer Archipelago, an island group off WA’s coast near Derby in the Kimberley region. Mr Whitby said the new parks brought the total conservation area in WA to more than one million hectares as the State Government targets five million hectares by 2024. A WA first, Mr Whitby said the marine parks had been co-designed with traditional owners, who will help manage and protect the parks. “(Traditional owners) have been here for tens of thousands of years,” he said. “They know the land, and it’s part of them, so they can take a real role in managing, particularly for the future.” Mayala woman Rowena Mouda said co-designing was important. “We get the story first-hand from people that have carried this knowledge and everything that has been passed down,” she said. “Getting it from these people, co-designing allows them to share information that can only come from people from that country.” Bardi Jawi Niimidiman Aboriginal Corporation chairman Kevin George said the parks enabled traditional owners to care for their country the traditional way. The marine parks will be added to the existing marine conservation network in the Great Kimberley Marine Park spanning the northern Kimberley coast. The marine parks will protect the water surrounding the islands of Buccaneer Archipelago, and provide a space for humpback whales, sea turtles, dolphins and coral. Dambimangari woman Leah Umbagai said the marine parks would enable rangers to go out on country and pass on knowledge to younger people. “It gives us help with our rangers, and for kids to go out on country, to learn about particular animals, foods, and the way of hunting,” she said. The marine parks will contain zones for conservation, and to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage, as well as zones for recreation, tourism, and commercial business. Mr Punch said the State Government would work with commercial and recreational fishers, and traditional owners, on fishing access in the region. State ministers and traditional owner representatives from Bardi Jawi Gaara, Mayala and Maiyalam country signed an Indigenous land use agreement to enable joint recognition, management, and protection of cultural values of each groups land following the announcement.