Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Fisheries Management in the Torres Strait, Australia: the Catalytic Role of Turtles and Dugong as Cultural Keystone Species

Butler, James; Tawake, Alifereti; Skewes, Tim; Tawake, Lavenia; McGrath, Vic

doi:10.5751/es-05165-170434

Cited by 120 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Promoting the cultural importance of eels has also empowered Indigenous people to gain an equal voice in the future management plans and approaches. Ultimately, recognition of these species as keystones in both a social (CKS) and ecological sense, has provided a platform to unite nonIndigenous and Indigenous worldviews and values to progress our equitable management of freshwater ecosystems (Garibaldi and Turner 2004, Caro 2010, Butler et al 2012.…”

Section: Cross-cultural Approaches To Conservation and Management: Frmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, these cultural keystone species (CKS) influence the cultural identity of a group of people via the species role in subsistence, spirituality, and/or Indigenous economies (Garibaldi and Turner 2004, Butler et al 2012, McCarthy et al 2014. Maintaining connections to these species through traditional practices is crucial for the social-ecological resilience of Indigenous cultures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite this importance, freshwater CKS are often not formally recognized in modern management and monitoring approaches, which have traditionally focused on threatened species and, more recently, ecological keystone species that perform key roles in maintaining biodiversity, ecosystem health, and bolstering resilience to disturbance (Bond 1994, Gunderson 2000, Caro 2010). Equitable integration of Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) into modern fisheries management can empower Indigenous people via recognition of their sovereignty (Bohnesky andMaru 2011, Alfred 2014) and support of customary harvest values and practices (Schnierer 2011, Butler et al 2012). If we are to bolster social-ecological resilience in freshwaters, we must recognize culturally significant species, engage a range of people in building cross-cultural capacity and understanding of freshwaters, and include IEK in adaptive management plans (Berkes et al 2000, Moller et al 2004, Stephenson and Moller 2009, Ruiz-Mallén and Corbera 2013.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Culturally significant fisheries: keystones for management of freshwater social-ecological systems

Noble¹,

Duncan²,

Perry³

et al. 2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Indigenous peoples of North America, Australia, and New Zealand have a long tradition of harvesting freshwater animals. Over generations of reliance and subsistence harvesting, Indigenous peoples have acquired a profound understanding of these freshwater animals and ecosystems that have become embedded within their cultural identity. We have identified trans-Pacific parallels in the cultural significance of several freshwater animal groups, such as eels, other finfish, bivalves, and crayfish, to Indigenous peoples and their understanding and respect for the freshwater ecosystems on which their community survival depends. In recognizing such cultural connections, we found that non-Indigenous peoples can appreciate the deep significance of freshwater animals to Indigenous peoples and integrate Indigenous stewardship and Indigenous ecological knowledge into effective comanagement strategies for sustainable freshwater fisheries, such as Indigenous rangers, research partnerships, and Indigenous Protected Areas. Given that many of these culturally significant freshwater species also play key ecological roles in freshwater ecosystems, their recognition and prioritization in management and monitoring approaches should help sustain the health and well-being of both the social and ecological components of freshwater ecosystems.

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Section: Cross-cultural Approaches To Conservation and Management: Frmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Culturally significant fisheries: keystones for management of freshwater social-ecological systems

Noble¹,

Duncan²,

Perry³

et al. 2016

E&S

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“…The Torres Strait Treaty maintains traditional hunting rights for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders inside the Torres Strait Protected Zone, as hunting turtles and dugongs is a key component of traditional customs for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (Kwan et al, 2006;Butler et al, 2012). The relationships are also undeveloped between the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 and other reviewed policies and management plans.…”

Section: International Coherencementioning

confidence: 99%

Protecting Migratory Species in the Australian Marine Environment: A Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Policy and Management Plans

et al. 2018

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Marine migratory species are difficult to manage because animal movements can span large areas and are unconstrained by jurisdictional boundaries. We reviewed policy and management plans associated with four case studies protected under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act 1999) in order to identify the coherence of policy and management plans for managing marine migratory species in Australia. Environmental policies (n = 23) and management plans (n = 115) relevant to marine turtles, dugongs, humpback whales, and migratory shorebirds were reviewed. Few of the reviewed policies (n = 7) listed protected species and even fewer (n = 4) listed protected marine migratory species. Marine turtles were most represented in the reviewed policies (n = 7), while migratory shorebirds were most represented in management plans (n = 59). Policies and management plans were much more likely to identify relationships to other policies or plans within the same jurisdiction than to different jurisdictions. The EPBC Act 1999 served as the central link between reviewed policies and plans, but the requirements of that Act were weakly integrated into the other documents. This weak integration and the biases toward specific migratory species in environmental policies and management plans are detrimental to the conservation of these Matters of National Environmental Significance in Australia. Any changes to the EPBC Act 1999 will affect all environmental policy and management plans in Australia and highlights a need for cooperative, multi-level governance of migratory species. Our findings may have relevance to the conservation of marine migratory species in a broader international context.

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“…LEK has only recently begun to be applied in fisheries management in some parts of the world, primarily because of dwindling stocks (Butler et al 2012, Thornton and Maciejewski Scheer 2012, Van Holt 2012. It has differing levels of detail depending on the experience of the harvester (Espinoza-Tenorio et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consilient knowledge in fisheries: a case study of three species of wolffish (Anarhichadidae) listed under the Canadian Species at Risk Act

Dawe¹,

Schneider²

2014

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Three species of wolffish have been listed under Canada's Species at Risk Act with consequences for commercial fisheries. Because harvester based local ecological knowledge (LEK) and science knowledge differ in goals, spatial and temporal scale, and mode of generalization, the current system struggles with including LEK along with traditional assessments in species at risk (SARA) processes. The differences in LEK and science led us to consider the concept of consilience in the sense of strengthened inductive knowledge via convergence or concordance of evidence from disparate sources. We used three criteria when considering consilience: a general concurrence of data, presence of unexplained inconsistencies, and a degree of complementarity between two disparate sources. Using wolffish in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence we examined the feasibility of applying these criteria to two disparate sources of information: scientific stock assessments and data from structured fish harvester local ecological knowledge (LEK) interviews. We found that for wolffish there was consistency in observed trends and locations of high wolffish catch rates from both harvester LEK interviews and fishery-independent survey data. There was inconsistency between observed variability in catch sizes in harvester interviews and stock assessment maps. The science and LEK evidence were complementary in that observations took place at different spatial and temporal scales. They were complementary in that LEK was inshore, compared to science data from offshore. The explicit criteria we developed permit use of fishers' knowledge that, in the past, has often been discounted to zero, often thereby reducing trust by harvesters in the results of species at risk assessments. The concept of consilience shifts the focus from controversy to dialogue in the use of evidence and, so, is important in rebuilding marine fishing communities.

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Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Fisheries Management in the Torres Strait, Australia: the Catalytic Role of Turtles and Dugong as Cultural Keystone Species

Cited by 120 publications

References 40 publications

Culturally significant fisheries: keystones for management of freshwater social-ecological systems

Culturally significant fisheries: keystones for management of freshwater social-ecological systems

Protecting Migratory Species in the Australian Marine Environment: A Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Policy and Management Plans

Consilient knowledge in fisheries: a case study of three species of wolffish (Anarhichadidae) listed under the Canadian Species at Risk Act

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