In
a controversy that threatens to cause an explosive clash between
indigenous custom and the imperatives of global management agencies
are warning that unless controls are introduced soon on hunting
in the Torres Strait, and in neighbouring areas of PNG and Indonesia,
the dugong and the green turtle could become extinct.
It
is an issue complicated by the widespread use of inhumane hunting
and killing methods - practices that would risk criminal prosecutions
in other parts of Australia but are condoned in the name of
traditional rights in areas that are largely beyond the control
of animal welfare agencies and fisheries enforcement officers.
The problem is most acute for the dugong, the seacow listed
as vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union
and as endangered under the United States Marine Mammal Protection
Act.
Alarm
bells have been ringing for several years in Australia's dugong
populations outside the Torres Strait. Damage to vital seagrass
habitats from coastal development and pollution and the accidental
trapping of hundreds of dugongs by commercial fisherman, have
contributed to a sharp decline in numbers along much of the
Queensland coast over the past two decades, including some areas
within the Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Sections
of the central and southern Queensland coast were closed to
commercial gill net fishing, and several Aborigine communities
agreed to voluntarily suspend dugong hunting, after fresh surveys
reinforced indications that the dugong population between Dunk
Island and Hervey Bay had fallen by about 50 per cent since
the mid- 1980s. There are now believed to be fewer than 1700
dugongs in the area - a level which leaves those populations
critically endangered.
Aerial
surveys have indicated that about 24,000 dugongs remain in the
Torres Strait, but there are concerns that traditional hunting
is now putting that population at serious risk. At least 1200
dugongs a year - the vast majority mature females - are taken
in the Torres Strait Protected Zone which straddles the territorial
waters of Australia and PNG and where indigenous fishermen are
free to hunt as many dugongs as they wish, provided traditional
methods are used and the meat is not sold. Hundreds more dugongs
are taken in the adjoining waters off northern Cape York and
the coastal fringes of PNG and Irian Jaya.
This
catch is far in excess of estimates of sustainability made by
marine biologists. According to Australia's leading authority
on dugongs Professor Helene Marsh of Townsville's James Cook
University, the maximum sustainable mortality rate from all
human impacts is only about 1 or 2 per cent of adult females
per year.
Professor
Marsh defends traditional hunting rights and says the importance
of dugongs to Islander culture must be recognised. But she predicts
that dugongs will disappear from all areas of the world apart
from far north Queensland and the Torres Strait within the next
century and that this last "dugong Serengeti" will
also be endangered unless an effective scheme is implemented.
"The
future of coastal marine mammals is extremely bleak. If we can't
get our act together those species are going to go, "
she says. "In the Torres Strait the situation
could be managed quite easily and it could be very empowering
for the local people....Australia is a custodian of marine biodiversity.
We have a responsibility to act."
While
there are vastly greater numbers of green turtles in Australia's
northern waters, some scientists argue that unrestrained commercial
fishing in Indonesia and PNG, and excessive traditional hunting
in and around the Torres Strait, could also drive that species
to the edge of collapse.
Dr
Colin Limpus, an expert on turtle conservation with the Queensland
Department of Environment, estimates that about 10,000 of the
migratory green turtles that nest in Australian waters are killed
by fishermen each year. While most are captured in an expanding
commercial trade in Indonesia and PNG, Dr Limpus reckons as
many as 10,000 a year are hunted in and around the Torres Strait
Peninsula Zone.
He
believes this harvest is well in excess of sustainable levels
for a species that takes between 30 and 50 years to mature and
breeds only every five or six years. Traditional hunters - who
also prey on pregnant dugongs for their foetuses and young calves
- deliberately target mature female turtles for their eggs and
supposedly superior meat. "Right now there are so many
it's difficult for people to see the problem, but my crystal
ball-gazing tells me we are losing them and we can't see it,"
says Dr Limpus. "I don't think we can afford to
continue like this for more than, at best, another 15 or 20
years. We are hammering the hell out of them and when the crash
comes it is probably going to be irretrievable." Dr
Limpus is concerned at the lack of a conservation ethic among
most Islanders. "They just see this as another food
source that they can go and get whenever they like and that
will be forever." Efforts by Australian officials and
scientists to promote a co-operative management plan for turtles
have drawn an indifferent response from Indonesia and PNG.
The
problem for both dugongs and turtles is being compounded by
indiscriminate hunting practices. Despite legal requirements
that dugong be hunted only by "traditional means",
islanders now use fast modern boats to chase the quarry and
there are frequent reports of nets and guns being used. Officials
of the Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol confirm widespread
abuses of traditional hunting rights: excessive catches of dugongs
and turtles, dugong calves speared to lure adults with their
screams and commercial netting in PNG waters within the jointly-managed
protection zone. But the patrol has few resources and limited
powers to respond.
The
senior enforcement officer on Thursday Island, Mr Bruce Kingdom,
said a group of hunters had recently killed about 30 dugongs
within a two week period. "There's nothing we can do
because Torres Strait Islanders are entitled to take as many
as they like. There's no bag limit," he says. "Most
of the elders are aware that they are a fragile species, but
not all of the people in the communities listen to their elders.
Some of the young hotheads get out there and do what they like."
Dorothea
Nungarai, a volunteer fisheries ranger based on Friday Island,
says many young islanders are catching turtles and dugongs for
sport. She claims there have been several cases recently of
pregnant dugongs being caught and their foetuses cut out and
thrown back into the water so their cries will draw other members
of the herd. Ms Nungarai says she has also seen large numbers
of turtles and quantities of dugong meat dumped in the council
tip on Thursday Island. " It would make you cry,"
she says. "These beautiful animals just thrown away.
It's such needless waste. People are catching too much and when
a fresh dugong is caught they just throw away the old meat they
have in the freezer."
Henry
Garnier, an elder from Hammond Island and deputy chairman of
the Island Coordinating Council,the peak leadership grouping
for the Torres Strait island communities, says many people are
hunting dugong commercially - supplying the big islander communities
in Cairns, Townsville and other southern cities - and some are
using guns to kill them. "Some of our people are taking
too much and some of them are doing it commercially. They are
selling dugong meat locally and down south," he says.
Dr
Colin Limpus is one of many people disturbed by the killing
methods employed by traditional hunters, especially with turtles.
"I have problems personally watching any animal being
butchered alive, but I have to bite my tongue," he
says. The RSPCA has little power to interfere with traditional
hunting practices.
Despite
the magnitude of the threat to dugongs and turtles - and the
implications for Australia's international credentials in conservation
- little is being done by Federal and State Governments, a situation
that appears to be influenced by sensitivities about interfering
with indigenous rights.
But
a number of Islander leaders are beginning to recognise the
need for action. Henry Garnier, who is reponsible for fisheries
issues on the Islands Coordinating Council, plans to travel
to all the outlying islands to urge adoption of a voluntary
code to control hunting. "We need a management plan
to protect dugongs and turtles for future generations,"
he says. "We have to do something about it and do
it quickly. We should put a permit system in place. You have
to have a very good reason to take dugong for traditional purposes.
You can't just take it when you feel like it. This would give
the councils some control."
Mr
Garnier who is a professional fisherman, says that to be effective,
any management plan would need to be supported by PNG where
large numbers of dugongs are being taken and sold in the markets.
He is convinced there is a serious decline in dugong numbers
in the region.
"In
the old days there were dugongs almost everywhere. We would
only hunt them for weddings and other special occasions. We
did not take nearly as many as we do now. Some hunters are just
too greedy. Last month I saw one hunter take four dugongs in
one day.
He
fears for a species that is an essential part of Islander identity.
"We have to do something now. Not tomorrow or next week:
now. I don't want my grandchildren to have to go to a museum
to see what dugongs looked like. At the rate we are taking them,
this is what will happen."
Mark
Baker/ The Age Newspaper
7/2/1998 Published with permission
WHAT
YOU CAN DO
Please Write To:
Dr. David Kemp
Federal Minister for the Environment
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Urging
that he take action to implement legislation to stop the inhumane
slaughter of both the turtles and dugongs.
Mention that it is high time these animals were afforded strong
protection and should not be allowed to be slaughtered - especially
as described above - under the guise of
" traditional hunting practices."
Under
the IUCN Criteria for Threatened Species, the Green Turtle
(Chelonia mydas) is listed as ENDANGERED - this means
that a 50% reduction in their population has occurred over
the last 10 years or in three generations.
The Dugong (Dugong dugon) is listed as CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
- meaning that they face a high rate of extinction in the
immediate future.
Both
the Green Turtle and Dugong MUST be afforded IMMEDIATE protection.
