Traditional owners and reef authority celebrate 20 years of co-managing world wonder

Traditional owners and the Reef authority are celebrating 20 years of blending ancient knowledge and cutting edge research to protect the reef.

Uncle Leonard Andy was first involved in Girringun TUMRA when his father fought for its creation. 20 years later the proud Djiru Traditional Owner said the program helped teach the next generation. Picture: supplied

Traditional owners and the reef authority are celebrating 20 years of blending ancient knowledge and cutting edge research to protect the reef.

Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreements were first signed into effect in December 2005 between six traditional owner groups across the Hinchinbrook region to manage Indigenous hunting and cultural use.

Created in 2005, Girringun TUMRA combined six saltwater traditional owner groups across the Hinchinbrook region. Picture: supplied.

Two decades later more than 43 per cent of the GBR coastline is managed across ten TUMRAs in conjunction with the Reef Authority program.

The agreements allow for co-management of the reef and coastline by combining ancient laws and customs with the most recent advances in science and research.

Djiru Traditional Owner Uncle Leonard Andy has been involved in Girringun TUMRA since it began.

He said the program was started to quash illegal poaching.

“When it was first established it had a lot to do with cultural resources. We wanted to stop poaching of turtles and dugongs and to manage cultural resources for the future,” he said.

“It started off with permits for hunting, but then it moved more into research, and education.

“It’s important that we can educate the wider community, and to get our young people involved with their culture and their responsibilities on the land and the ocean.”

The major milestone comes as first nation peoples and the wider community celebrate the beginning of NAIDOC week under this year’s theme of The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy.

Girringun TUMRA Coordinator Jade Pryor believed the co-management agreements were vital in giving traditional owners a voice and seat at the table. Picture: supplied.

Girringun TUMRA co-ordinator Jade Pryor said community buy-in had ensured traditional knowledge stayed alive.

“They did this for the younger generation, and it speaks volumes about what they saw back then and what it could lead to,” Ms Pryor said.

“Today we are seeing seagrass and dugong monitoring projects, blue carbon projects, fish and mangrove monitoring.

“But it is more than that. The TUMRA gives our Traditional Owners a seat at that table to say this is how we want to manage our Sea Country.”

The function and scope of TUMRAs have evolved considerably since their inception.

Reef Authority TUMRA program manager Brooke Owens said the agreements helped deliver tangible improvements to existential threats facing the reef.

“Through agreements, Traditional Owners are managing threats to the reef including coastal development, poor water quality, illegal and unsustainable fishing, and eradication of crown-of-thorns starfish,” she said.

“Traditional owners have been linked to and managed their Sea Country across the Great Barrier Reef for millennia. It means so much to see TUMRAs across such a large part of the Reef, and to support Traditional Owners as they sustainably manage their Sea Country.”

Originally published as Traditional owners and reef authority celebrate 20 years of co-managing world wonder