How Indigenous Fishing Practices Can Contribute to Wellbeing and Social-ecological Resilience: An Example from Torres Strait, Australia

The Torres Strait (TS) Islanders of northern Australia are an indigenous people of Melanesian descent with strong connections to both their land and sea territories. Islanders define themselves as sea people: fishing and... [ view full abstract ]

The Torres Strait (TS) Islanders of northern Australia are an indigenous people of Melanesian descent with strong connections to both their land and sea territories. Islanders define themselves as sea people: fishing and living off the sea is as much about livelihoods as relationships and identity. Indeed, harvesting of marine resources is not only essential for subsistence, but also crucial to Islanders’ cultural, social and economic future. Tropical rock lobster or kaiar is the commercial fishery where Islanders are most active and it is central to achieving their aspirations for economic and political autonomy. However, it is also the fishery with the highest participation of outsiders. Because tropical rock lobsters are considered to be “underfished”, decision-makers have been strongly preoccupied with achieving “optimal utilization” of this fishery. This has created considerable pressures for Islanders to change their ways in order to increase their catch as a precondition for greater access. Using a social-ecological systems analysis that combines the concepts of resilience and social wellbeing, we outline the multiple functions that kaiar fulfills in Islander society – some of which are currently ignored in the management of this fishery. We then show how Islander institutions and practices support their overall wellbeing, their cultural resilience and kaiar sustainability. We argue that how proposed fisheries measures might support or hinder wellbeing in the short and long-term and how these impacts would differ among Islanders deserve major attention. We suggest that an assessment based on wellbeing criteria determined by Islanders themselves could provide a strong foundation to strike a balance between political, economic, social and cultural objectives while supporting social-ecological resilience. We conclude that more attention to alternative understandings and institutional arrangements as well as a stronger appreciation of the role of social meanings, cultural values and norms, and diverse and sometimes competing motivations and aspirations, are needed to support more equitable and sustainable fisheries.