Conflict, co-option or co-management: eating our words? Towards indigenous hunting management in north Queensland (A1.2.2S)

Task leader: Ms Melissa Nursey-Bray, CRC Reef and James Cook University.

Task associate: Mr James Innes, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

The development of a capacity for cooperative management of indigenous resources in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area requires an understanding of the social cultural and economic values indigenous people place on various marine resources. For the indigenous communities, which use the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area , dugongs and turtles are the highest value traditional foods. The development of cooperative arrangements for turtle and dugong hunting is seen as a significant first towards indigenous communities managing their land and sea country, as well as contributing towards effective strategies for species management.

The aim of this project is to investigate the social, economic and cultural importance of turtle and dugong hunting in the Aboriginal communities of Hopevale and Yarrabah, in the context of the process of community hunting management programs over a two year period. This is being undertaken through research aimed at eliciting the discourses about hunting amongst indigenous and non indigenous groups with a view to understanding their implications for cooperative hunting management initiatives in the future.

Information collection uses a combination of participant observation, appraisal, oral story and literary review technique in order to document and understand the ways in which different values inform/ed the process of planning. Triangulation will be used to achieve convergent result validity, within a theoretical framework that uses critical and discourse analysis as an enabling tool. Results will include the documentation of the history and planning of hunting practice in North Queensland, recommendations for management and co-management initiatives, and community outcomes as appropriate and advised by Hopevale and Yarrabah.