Traditional Owners of Cape York Peninsula have always been active managers of marine turtle and dugong. Today they continue to maintain their culture of looking after turtle and dugongs across their traditional land and sea countries which include taking the responsibility to manage the impacts of human activity on land and sea and the animals in those environments, in a way that maintains the wellbeing of humans, animals, land and sea. Indigenous Traditional owners currently have the right to hunt turtle and dugong but they do not have the full range of rights and resources to enable them to exercise their responsibilities to these animals, to their communities and to their sea country, which has led to a range of issues.
With support from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities our organisation was the key Project Manager and Facilitator in the development of Cape York Turtle and Dugong Strategy in close liaison and collaboration with local authorities such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Traditional Owners groups, councils, consultants, educational institutions and regional organisations. To ensure the success of the development and implementation of the strategy which is aimed at the reinstatement of traditional authority through the development of sea country management plans and rules and regulations related to hunting of turtle and dugong., Balkanu took rigorous effort to communicate and consult with Traditional Owners of over 20 communities in Cape York and formed a taskforce to produce a Regional Plan for sustainable turtle and dugong management.
The turtle and dugong work on Cape York has included:
Balkanu assisted the Specialised Indigenous Ranger Program to achieve its objective to implement voluntary hunting permit systems so as to strengthen the compliance and enforce rules against illegal poaching of dugong and turtle in the Cape. Key tasks included developing systems in proper governance, engage with communities establishing steering committees, recruitment of permit officers and rangers, collaborating with local authorities and the Government.
Help us help the Cape York community.
We respectfully acknowledge the First Nations people in the State of Queensland, we acknowledge the cultural and spiritual connection that Aboriginal people and Torres Straits Islander people have with the land and the sea.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present as well as the existing and emerging leaders who walk together in partnership on this journey.
We want to express our thanks to all our supporters, volunteers, funding organisations and all who have worked in partnership with us, standing alongside us to help achieve our mission to bring beneficial change to Cape York’s Indigenous communities.