Welcome to this edition of the North Australian Indigenous Land
and Sea Management Alliance, Dugong and Marine Turtle Project
Newsletter. The Newsletter is about sharing information on dugong
and marine turtle and sea country management. If you belong to an
Indigenous ranger group and have a story idea for the next edition,
email Joshua
Kitchens at NAILSMA.
The professionalism and authority delivered by Indigenous
speakers from Australia at the recent symposium in Mexico left the
Seri Indians inspired, reports Timothy Dykman of Ocean
Revolution.
So impressed by NAILSMA, TSRA and JCU presentations at the
symposium, a group of Seri conservation and governmental policy
makers recently delivered a series of their own presentations to
their federal Indigenous representative body, Comisón
Nacional Para El Desarrollo De Los Pueblos Indigenas (CDI) with
great success.
The presentations from Gabriel Hoeffer, Alberto Mellado, Saul
Molina and the newly elected Seri Governor Moises Mendez Romero had
such a strong impact on the CDI representative for Sonora, Adelaido
Izabal, and three of his program directors, that they invited the
Seri to present detailed proposals to access over $200,000USD of
additional funds to support their community development and
conservation programs.
The power and consolidated force of the many conservation and
political representatives from Mr Romero’s tribe of only 800
people, is believed to be a key to the success of the
presentations.
“Outcomes like these underline the value of international
cultural exchange collaborations such as "The Traditional Knowledge
Exchange" between the Seri and Indigenous turtle and dugong
managers from Australia”, said Mr Timothy Dykman, Co-Director
of Ocean Revolution.
Photos of the trip supplied by Kenny
Bedford and Frank Loban
Torres Strait Regional Authority's Land and Sea
Unit have created a teacher resource kit that is being
delivered annually to all Torres Strait and Cape York schools
by the Queensland Education Department.
Frank and Lachlan have done a fantastic job creating the kit
which uses turtle and dugong as a focus for learning. It's packed
with background information on turtle and dugong, activities for
students plus heaps of photos and video clips.
The kit has been designed to provide Torres Strait Islanders
with access to dugong and turtle related information from around
the world so that they may consider this information when making
decisions about how to look after their turtle and dugong stocks
into the future. It doesn't attempt to teach Torres Strait Islander
traditional knowledge of turtle and dugong, acknowledging this
information belongs to the Islanders and its teaching is already a
part of their culture.
The kit address a key activity identified in the NAILSMA Turtle
and Dugong Project regional activity plan for Torres Strait.
The resource closely links to the Queensland Education
Department's curriculum for year 3 Torres Strait and Cape York
students, specifically a 'rich task' activity that focuses on
students developing a multimedia presentation on an endangered
species or pest animal or plant. However, the kit has a much
broader appeal and is also being used by high school students in
the region.
Consultation was a major task in putting the kit together. Frank
met with Islanders from Mer (Murray Is)and Besi (Mabuiag Is) to
help with the language used in the activity sheets while Lachlan
consulted with teachers and approached Horn Island School as a
reference group to trial the package.
Sam Emerick from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority
provided technical information on turtle and dugong and Leanne Fox,
Head of Curriculum for Torres Strait and Cape York Schools,
Queensland Education reviewed and ultimately approved the kits for
use in schools.
Frank and Lachlan are happy to distribute the kit with members
of the DMTP interested in receiving it. To obtain a copy, contact
or Josh at NAILSMA.
As most of you would be aware, there has been a number of
negative stories circulating in the media about Indigenous harvest
of dugong in recent times.
On February 15, some sense was added to the debate with the ABC
posting a story on their website "No need to quantify number of dugongs
harpooned: researcher".
In the article, Professor Helene Marsh from James Cook
University says she is confident there are healthy stocks of dugong
in Northern Territory waters.
She goes onto give support for Indigenous people as managers of
dugong.
"I think the critical thing is to work with the communities to
get them to develop means of regulating their catches because, it's
in their interest so that they have dugongs for their children,"
she said.
The
following is a rundown of the media reports that preceded this
article.
January 16
The Sydney Morning Herald published an article "Enough whales for watching and
eating".
18 January
Radio National broadcast an interview with Dr Jennifer Marohasy
from the Institute of Public Affairs. In the interview, Dr Marohasy
suggested the the Australian Government's actions over Japanese
whaling was hypocritical when "more endangered species" such as
dugong were being hunted in Australia.
21 January
Joe Morrison, NAILSMA's Executive Officer, responded to some of Dr
Marohasy's comments in an interview on the same program. [Listen]
February 7
The ABC posted a news article on their website "Fisherman raises alarm on Indigenous
dugong hunt".
The ABC posted another story on the same day: "Indigenous group defends dugong
hunting".
To the ends of the Earth -
Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney Morning Herald To the ends of the Earth Sydney Morning
Herald, Australia - 17 Feb 2008 Gulls feast in the shallows on the
remains of a dugong that had been hunted and killed in...
Australia. Indigenous rangers
appointed to manage wild Queensland ... - BYM News (press
release)
Australia. Indigenous rangers appointed to manage wild Queensland
... BYM News (press release), Spain - 13 Feb 2008 Minister for
Natural Resources and Water Craig Wallace today...
The State of The World’s
Sea Turtles (2008) Magazine - Wildlife Extra
Wildlife Extra The State of The World’s Sea Turtles (2008)
Magazine Wildlife Extra, UK - 7 Feb 2008 The third annual volume of
SWOT Report—The State of the World’s Sea Turtles
magazine...
Previous Editions of the DMTP
Newsletter
12 Feb
The NAILSMA Turtle and Dugong Project is funded by the
Natural Heritage Trust.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
To make a comment, email Joshua
Kitchens.
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