The Long-Term Conservation of Marine Resources in the Southern Great Barrier Reef: Archaeological Marine Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Baselines in Resource Management

Contemporary fisheries management plans typically rely on modern catch records to develop resource use management and conservation outcomes. However, they fail to incorporate past socio-ecological baselines, especially those... [ view full abstract ]

Contemporary fisheries management plans typically rely on modern catch records to develop resource use management and conservation outcomes. However, they fail to incorporate past socio-ecological baselines, especially those of Indigenous cultures, which are imperative for understanding both cultural and environmental complexities when planning for future marine resource resilience. Archaeological archives are ideal repositories to extract historic palaeocultural and palaeoenvironmental baseline data for recording shifts in resource use, identifying trophic cascades and assisting in resource management and conservation initiatives.

We use the North Keppel Island, Great Barrier Reef, archaeological oyster fishery record to identify periods of expansion and contraction in Saccostrea cucullata (rock oyster) populations over 5000 years of human occupation. Results confirm rock oyster populations responded to human harvesting and environmental changes. The Woppaburra people sustained their oyster fishery throughout the Holocene and continue to use rock oysters as a traditional food and ceremonial resource.  

Today, Woppaburra people are actively involved in the conservation of marine resources at the Keppel Islands with contemporary small-scale oyster farmers and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Archaeological sites and use of marine resources by the Woppaburra and their ancestors, makes a significant educational component in the demonstration and implementation of common marine resource conservation goals to the local community and younger generations. Our scientific archaeological dataset and Woppaburra Traditional Ecological Knowledge has contributed to longer-term understandings of resource use which can be compared to historic and modern datasets, useful for environmental impact statements and recording socio-cultural complexities.