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NAILSMA - Dugong and Marine Turtle Project (Australia)
Source/Photos: North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance
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 In the north of Australia, Traditional Owners (TO’s) from the Kimberley, Top End of the Northern Territory, Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York and the Torres Strait have joined forces to develop community-driven approaches to the sustainable management of dugong and marine turtles. Coordinated by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), the Dugong and Marine Turtle Project (DMTP) takes a holistic approach to management and supports TOs to address both cultural and biological issues relevant to the sustainable management of dugong and marine turtles.
As Joe Morrison, Executive Officer for NAILSMA explains: “The aim of the DMTP is to provide a foundation for Indigenous groups to ensure that they can fulfil their cultural obligation in looking after their country, whilst actively managing important resources for the national and international good”.
 Northern Australia is regarded as one of the great strongholds for dugong and marine turtles in the world. It is home to the largest remaining populations of dugong, as well as six of the seven species of marine turtles. The vast coastline in this region supports enormous areas of sea grass and other turtle foraging grounds, while the beaches support globally significant rookeries for Green (Chelonia mydas), Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), and the Australian endemic Flat back (Natator depressus) Turtles.
Indigenous people across north Australia share many similar concerns and aspirations with regard to dugong and marine turtle management, despite the vastness of the region, the diversity of species and of coastal and oceanic habitats and differences in cultural and historical backgrounds. These include:
- the importance of Indigenous Knowledge and customary practice as the basis for sustainable management plans;
- the need to build the capacity of Indigenous Land and Sea Management organisations and ranger programs to engage in contemporary management and research;
- a lack of information including data on population sizes and distribution;
- improved working relationships and partnerships among TOs, researchers, government and industry;
- stronger linkages between coastal Indigenous communities responsible for dugong and marine turtles; and
- improved public understanding of the many threats to dugong and marine turtles, and of the rights, roles, responsibilities and activities of Indigenous Australians in managing dugong and marine turtle.
The NAILSMA DMTP started in 2005 and is funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust, with significant contributions from the project partners Kimberley Land Council, Northern Land Council, Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation and the Torres Strait Regional Authority. Technical and scientific advice is provided by the Technical Reference Group (about 24 members), which consists of researchers, government, non-government organisations and industry representatives.
One of the great strengths of the DMTP is that it provides for coordination of dugong and marine turtle management across a vast geographic area. The coordinating role of NAILSMA includes activities such as: 
- facilitating communication amongst participating Indigenous communities;
- developing standardised information recording and storage;
- training and coordinating information exchange among participating communities;
- commissioning relevant reviews and analyses, such as a socio-economic study of the value of dugongs and turtles to Indigenous livelihoods;
- ensuring Indigenous representation in government initiatives, planning and committees; and
- implementing communication activities to improve public understanding of the rights, roles, responsibilities and achievements of indigenous people in managing dugong and marine turtles.
 NAILSMA also works closely with another major Indigenous sea country management initiative in north Australia - The Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme (CGNP). Any ghost nets (disused fishing nets) that are found in north Australian waters predominantly come from foreign fishing vessels and pose significant risks to the environment due to their entanglement with and subsequent stranding of marine wildlife on coastal beaches.
Four of the marine turtle species listed as either endangered or vulnerable under Australian legislation have been found entangled in ghost nets. Indigenous communities around the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait are monitoring and removing nets from beaches, as well as providing valuable data to national and international activities to assist in fixing this issue at its source.
NAILSMA’s project partners oversee the local delivery of the DMTP through Regional Activity Plans (RAP) in selected ‘pilot’ communities. Each Regional Activity Plan is developed through community consultation, and identifies the needs and aspirations of TOs and community members on issues and threats facing dugong and turtle management, and identifies the types of management and research activities that communities wish to undertake.
 Through the Land and Sea Unit of the Kimberley Land Council, the Bardi Jawi community has established a base for working on Dugong and Turtle in key areas along the Dampier Peninsula (Ardyaloon, Lombadina/Djarindjin). The Regional Facilitator, Daniel Oades, is working with Head Rangers Eddy James and Brian Lee to coordinate implementation of their Regional Activity Plan (RAP). Their RAP provides scope for setting up a ranger program and that undertakes cultural mapping, catch management and beach nest surveys, as well as conducting community workshops to increase awareness of customary laws and the management of resources. The project will also look at cleaning up coastal areas, managing tourism and access, building relationships with government agencies and scientific institutions, sharing knowledge and experience, and providing training to rangers in Land and Sea Management.
The Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation employs Yolngu Aboriginal sea rangers across the coast of North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Dhimurru’s Senior Ranger Sea Country, Balupalu Yunupingu and Sea Country Facilitator, Samantha Muller, are working with other Dhimurru rangers to manage dugong and marine turtle as part of the Yolnguwu Monuk Gapu Wanga - Dhimurru Sea Country Plan (Dhimurru Sea). Rangers are conducting turtle nesting surveys on Bremer Island, an important breeding site for hawksbill, Olive Ridley and Green turtles. Similar to rangers in the west of Australia, each dry season, Dhimurru sea rangers conduct turtle rescue flights to regularly survey the beaches for turtles caught in discarded fishing nets. Dhimurru are also coordinating a satellite tracking program to monitor the health of turtles that are rescued from nets, and developing community management plans for the long term protection of turtles.
 The Li-Anthawirriyarra Ranger Group is piloting the Northern Territory Regional Activity Plan that was developed through the Northern Land Council. Although Dugong and Marine turtles are harvested on a customary hunting basis, communities have strongly expressed a wish to control the development and implementation of management and monitoring regimes. The Li-Anthawirryarra Ranger Group already has proven experience, and has developed their marine and coastal management and administrative capacities over many years. The Li-Anthawirriyarra Sea Rangers have worked collaboratively with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in tracking the daily movements of the turtles and gathering information from satellite tracking that will help protect the species.
 In the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria, the Regional Facilitator, Bradley Wilson, of the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, works in consultation with the TOs of the Wellesley Islands and adjacent mainland. This region comprises of the traditional land and waters of the Lardil, Kaiadilt, Yangkaal and Gangalidda peoples, whose native title over the sea was recognised by the Federal Court in 2004. Dugong and marine turtles are central to the culture, identity and economy of all the Aboriginal groups of the Wellesley Islands region. Through their RAP, the TOs of this region have indicated their commitment to the long term management of dugong and marine turtles, which they have harvested sustainably for thousands of years.
In Cape York, the Regional Facilitator, Brian Singleton, of Balkanu: Cape York Development Corporation works with communities at Injinoo and Porpuraaw on the west coast and Lockhart and Hopevale on the east coast. Work includes using the proven methods of the Traditional Knowledge Recording Project (TKRP). Traditional Knowledge of customary law and dugong and turtle biology will form the basis of community based management plans and inform the development of research and management partnerships with government and other stakeholders.
In the Torres Strait, dugongs and marine turtle are a traditional food source of 19 Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal communities within the Maluiligal (Western Islands), Guda Maluiligal (Top Western Islands), Kulkalgal (Central Islands), Kaurareg (Inner Islands), Kemer Kemer Meriam (Eastern Islands) Nations and of adjacent coastal communities in Papua New Guinea and the Gudang Nation of Cape York Peninsula. Sustainable use and management of dugongs and turtles will, therefore, require the active involvement of, and collaboration between, all of these communities, particularly at a Nation level.
The Regional Facilitator, Lachlan Sutherland, of the Torres Strait Regional Authority is working with communities on the Iama, Boigu and Badu Islands. Project Officers for these Islands include Charles David, Ishmael Gibuma and Koygab Pabai, and Horace Nona, respectively. Additional resources have also allowed 5 new island communities, Mer (Murray Island), Erub (Darnley Island), Dauan, Mabuiag and Ngurapai (Horn Island), to participate in the community-based project. Activities in these regions focus on the cultural management of turtles and dugongs, recording catch sizes, monitoring nesting sites, as well as providing training and education on resource management.
 A number of community level meetings, nation level and regional meetings have been conducted in order to develop a culturally appropriate frameworks to support Traditional Owners manage dugong and turtle resources.
The project and the frameworks developed also aim to strengthen traditional and customary practices regarding dugong and turtle and greater involvement of Traditional Owners at the management and decision making level.
NAILSMA, the project partners and communities are working together towards a long term vision of healthy and sustainable populations of dugong and marine turtles that support Indigenous livelihoods across the north of Australia. Successful community-based management plans built on long-held Traditional Knowledge and Customary Law that are integrated with contemporary knowledge, research and management planning, are essential to achieving this goal. Scientific research will continue to improve understandings of the complex life histories of marine turtles and dugong, but research alone cannot ensure the survival of these populations.
 As Mr. Joe Morrison, Executive Officer for NAILSMA, explains:
“We are not just talking about the status of wildlife populations, but about the lives of remote communities. If you are going to limit what people can catch and eat, then you must take responsibility for inevitable impacts on Indigenous nutrition and health, as well as increased impacts on other wildlife species. At stake here are the sustainable livelihoods of Indigenous people, just as much as biodiversity outcomes. How can we achieve both?
The answer surely has to be one driven by Indigenous people, who will be the major beneficiaries from the sustainable management of these animals.”
For an interview, please contact:
Joe Morrison, NAILSMA Executive Officer.
Telephone: +61 8 8946 6702 or email: joe.morrison@cdu.edu.au
For further project information contact:
Rod Kennett, Project Coordinator.
Telephone: +61 8 8946 6271 or email: rod.kennett@cdu.edu.au
Lorrae McArthur, Communication Support Officer
Telephone: +61 8 8946 6973 or email: lorrae.mcarthur@cdu.edu.au
Main photo: Laynha beach clean-up undertaken by Yirrkala and Dhimurru rangers. (Photo: Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation).
 NAILSMA: The North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management Alliance was developed by the Kimberley Land Council, Northern Land Council and Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation in response to the ever increasing need to have effective communication to support community driven management action by Traditional Owners across the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia.
The membership of the alliance is steadily growing to include other regions within the north of Australia. The Dugong and Marine Turtle Project is one of many initiatives that NAILSMA is currently operating across the north.
Visit the NAILSMA website (www.nailsma.org.au). From this site, a handbook on Dugong and Marine Turtle Knowledge is available to downloaded (pdf).
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