INTRODUCTION
The senior lawmen of the indigenous peoples of north east Arnhem Land have prepared this document to persuade the Australian people and their governments that our law and traditions about management of the seas should be the publicly endorsed and legally sanctioned marine protection strategy for the seas we call Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
Manbuynga ga Rulyapa are two currents that come together to form the seas off our homelands. In the course of their journey through and under the water they separate and then come together again. Our law says that those waters 'play' with each other in this way because inside the water are the two major elemental forces. Within these waters are our sacred totems, song cycles, ceremonies and the pathways of creation beings. Responsibility for them is apportioned throughout our community.
We are seeking negotiations with government about the following recommendations.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 |
BACKGROUND The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has recently proclaimed all of the world's commercial fish stocks to be in deep crisis. Some of the world's largest marine ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef and the Southern Ocean are showing signs of pollution-related stress. As a continental coastal nation state, saving our remaining marine resources from the same fate is a major challenge for all Australians. Yolngu, the indigenous peoples of north east Arnhem Land, want to help Australia meet this challenge. The recent dramatic increase in information available to us about the wider world through travel and television in particular have made us aware of the danger posed to our marine estates by an increasing world population and demand for marine resources. |
Since Federation, a succession of Australian government marine resources management practices have been characterised by meagre funding and poor science. Government and industry co-management has failed to prevent over-fishing and the virtual extermination in some places of native fish stocks like abalone, tuna and shark. This history of past failures, and the significance of what is at risk, means that Australian communities must now either actively participate in the protection of their own vulnerable local marine resources, or watch them disappear.
For over forty thousand years, through two Ice Ages, Yolngu have inhabited the shores of Arnhem Land in an area we call Miwatj, living mainly off the seafood we hunt and gather. To this day we retain an intimate relationship with the sea. Our relative isolation from the mainstream of Australian society has allowed us to continue our traditions and conserve our marine resources.
Now, however, increasing use of our seas is being made by people who are not part of Yolngu society and who do not understand or respect our laws. This is a cause for grave concern among our leaders. We do not want to see our food supply disappear, our beaches polluted or our sacred areas desecrated. The fish we are catching now, even with modern boats and tackle, are getting noticeably smaller. Oysters near the Gove sailing club at Marrngarr are already showing the effects of poisoning from anti fouling on yachts moored there and are unfit for human consumption.
We want to be able to continue to pass on our culture, knowledge and traditions and our marine resources to our children, but the threat posed by outside demands on our marine resources base threatens to disrupt this continuum.
NAMES
Our names for the seas off our homelands are Manbuynga and Rulyapa. Manbuynga ga Rulyapa are the names of the two elemental forces or currents in the Arafura Sea. These are the most important names for the sea and Yolngu law arises from their journey. There are also named waters which arise in the bays and elsewhere along our coast. But those names stop in inshore areas. All water ends up as Manbuynga ga Rulyapa. Only these two names extend out into deep water.
In contrast the origin of the 'official' name for the sea off Arnhem Land, Arafura, is not known. It could derive from Portuguese ('alfours' or 'arafuras' meaning free men from Malay control, or 'aria' meaning area and 'furiosa' meaning storms referring to the high incidence of cyclonic activity in the area, or 'Aru' referring to the Aru Islands off the coast of Irian Jaya and 'fora' meaning beyond) A Dutch or Indo Malay source cannot be ruled out either.
The number of other similarly inappropriate official place names in the sea off Arnhem Land is offensive to us. Our bays and rivers were given the names of British Sea Lords and colonial office officials by Matthew Flinders. A group of islands in the region is still actually called The English Company Islands on marine charts.
But we have always had a highly developed maritime nomenclature and a sophisticated cartographic tradition both in visual (painting) and oral (songs) forms to record the many named places in the seas off our country. We are still using the Yolngu names for these places that were being used when Flinders passed through our sea country. We want our names to be used by all Australians.
New maps will have to be produced showing visitors where they can go, which places are dangerous, and what the proper names for places are. We would like to participate in a comprehensive renaming program for places within Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
1. The seas off the coast of Miwatj (Arnhem Land), between Djimardi (Blyth River) and Wurrungguyuna (the mouth of Walker River), should be referred to as Manbuynga ga Rulyapa on all new official maps of the area.
AREA
Yolngu living between Djimardi (Blyth River) and Wurrungguyuna (the mouth of Walker River) communicate with each other effectively in their own various languages. We all paint ourselves in the same way and follow the same dreaming paths in our ceremony. We all dance the shark and the crocodile. These are the totems and their dreamings which we share - our common history. The crocodile dreaming path and ceremony unites us as the crocodile's journey comes from the east right around to the west. The crocodile is an important dreaming which extends throughout and holds the region together: the shark does likewise. The Star dreaming and the travels of the Djang'kawu sisters are also of widespread significance in the region. Many dreamings unite the area from inland and out into the sea.
There are other groups whose dreaming comes from inland and stops in our country, and we then carry them out into the deep water. This is how meaning is carried through the journeys of our totems and how we are united through Manbuynga ga Rulyapa - together we flow out into the sea. In fact this water goes far northwards beyond the boundary between Australia and Indonesia.
We want out collective rights to the totality of this area recognised and respected.
Within the Arafura Sea, Australia has recently delineated its northern boundary. Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) legislation, the Maritime Legislation Amendment Act 1994 was assented to by the Australian Parliament and proclaimed on 1 August 1994. This new boundary will be in the same place as the line delineating Indonesian and Australian Fishing Zones, mid way between the land masses of Australia and the Indonesian archipelago. An agreement to partition the sea in this way was the result of bilateral negotiations between the Australian and Indonesian Governments held as a consequence of the Law of the Sea Convention.
Despite it being widely known that Yolngu have had a long association with the people and the places to our north, the Australian Government failed to consult with us about this line. For hundreds of years, until customs charges and government regulation severed the ties, Yolngu successfully negotiated mutually beneficial access rights with Bugis and other Macassan fishers. Unwanted attempts to exploit our resources however have been repelled with force as happened in clashes between Japanese pearlers and Rirratjingu and Djapu clansmen at Port Bradshaw and Trial Bay earlier this century. The proposed EEZ boundary cuts across our ceremonial song cycles and our law.
Now that this legislation has been proclaimed, important sacred sites in the sea could come under Indonesian government control. The location of these areas needs to be clarified with custodians. It appears that the two governments neither understand nor recognise that they have split apart our water, dreaming paths and ceremonies. Now these important places may now be within Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone. We may not be able to have our native title rights to them acknowledged under Australian law.
2. The Australian government should consult with Yolngu about the northern extent of our interests in the sea.
WATER
In the Yolngu world view, water is the giver of sacred knowledge, all ceremonies and lands. Whether it's fresh or salt, travelling on or under the land or in the sea, water is the source of all that is holy. The word gapu, meaning water, is for anyone to use, including women and children.
But there is another deeper meaning for the word which is only for the elders to know, that is why talk about water must be 'at the feet of the old people'. Similarly the naming of the water proceeds along with pathways. There is 'surface' water and 'inside' water. The land carries it along an 'inside' path. And then it comes out as spring water in the sea. The salt water is on the surface and the fresh water is inside. And Yolngu stories are the same - there are stories which go outside and there are inside stories too.
Management of half of the Arafura Sea is pointless if the other half is over exploited or mismanaged. Manbuynga ga Rulyapa is on both sides. The fish swim on both sides. Yolngu have a history of being able to get on with Indonesian peoples. We would like to initiate discussions between all of the indigenous resource users of Manbuynga ga Rulyapa to develop a long-term sustainable relationship. Once this has been determined a basis for management of other non-indigenous kinds of use of our marine resources can be examined.
3. A bilateral co-management arrangement with the Federal Republic of Indonesia for the whole of the Arafura Sea should be pursued by the Australian Government with the assistance of Yolngu.
ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE
Yolngu ecological knowledge is all encompassing, combining spiritual, moral and communal components. The nature of the sea, its flora and fauna and the interaction between its various elements can be described in great detail by our elders. This knowledge is based on accumulated information gathered and refined by generations of observers and students of the sea. The holders of the knowledge and those who are responsible for our management processes are also the users, or have a prescribed social relationship with the users. This system sets levels of use of resources that are within boundaries controlled by the community derived values.
In contrast, non-Aboriginal managers of our marine resources have little or no understanding of the interactions between species or how species relate to their environment. They often have even less information about how environmental changes will impact on species or habitats. Control over use of marine resources is exerted by remote control, through legislation and licences. The people exploiting these resources have only an individual, commercial relationship with the environment; consequently exploitation is governed by external notions of substainability. Declining fish stocks in places that are managed in this way proves this relationship between the fishers and the fish does not encourage ecologically-sustainable use.
MANAGEMENT
Australian inter-governmental arrangements for the management of the Arafura Sea has been described as "cooperative inter-government sectoral management, based on the Offshore Constitutional Settlement Act 1978 and operating within an international framework of treaties and arrangements associated with the Law of the Sea".
There are probably no Yolngu, and very few other people, who really understand how these arrangements work. But we do know that these are the arrangements under which a significant part of continental marine resources have been destroyed in other places.
Our management arrangements for the sea are as complex as yours; but at least most adult Yolngu understand how their own system works, and this system has worked for us for thousands of years. This is due to our relationship with the sea. In our law Manbuynga and Rulyapa are related, similar to that of mother and child. Through these two names, Manbuynga and Rulyapa, we are all related as kin to the sea. Thus we have access to and use the sea in accordance with our law which derives from these kinship ties.
The people who are responsible for 'looking-after' specific resources are called djaagamirr or managers. The djaagamirr has to set an example for everybody so resources don't run out or are wasted. If another person wants to use some resources they have to use them responsibly and according to whatever conditions the djaagamirr has laid down. People who work for the djaagamirr are called djaamamirr and do whatever their djaagamirr tells them to so as to ensure that the resources they are responsible for are conserved. The djaagamirr is like djungayi or owner's manager who look after the law for the rom-watangu (law-owner). The djaagamirr tells the djaamamirr (the owner's manager's worker) what to do and when. This arrangement applies to every resource. These roles can be reversed in the context of another resource. So that for one species of fish a person can be another's djaagamirr but that same person can be djaamamirr for another kind of fish. In this way everybody has each kind of relationship to different things in the sea.
Yolngu take part in management through ceremonies such as funerals, initiations and other ceremonies. Aspects of some ceremonies are closed to children and women; we also have some ceremonies which are open to outsiders. We don't just dance in any way. There are people who are responsible for the rules - rom-watangu (the law-owners), djunggayi ( the owner's manager), and the gutharra (grandchild) clan for the law-holding clan.
Elsewhere in the world the recognition of the rights of indigenous people has led to unsustainable policies are being re-written in favour of indigenous, sustainable marine and coastal zone management strategies. If Yolngu ownership and management rights in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa are acknowledged by all users and government then the marine protection strategy which will apply there could be used as a model for marine resource management in other places in Australia. Our kinship ties with other indigenous resource users to our north and this provides us with a good basis on which to begin discussions about sustainable management of Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
4. The marine protection strategy for Manbuynga ga Rulyapa should continue to be based on the Yolngu management principles of djaagamirr and djaamamirr.
ACCESS TO MANBUYNGA GA RULYAPA
Obtaining permission to enter and use Manbuynga ga Rulyapa is not just a matter of talking to anyone. We have an established system of control and delegation of responsibility. If our rights are properly recognised then we can develop processes that will make Manbuynga ga Rulyapa sustainably accessible to non-Yolngu through the development of a visitation management plan.
A zoning system for Yolngu is already in operation throughout Manbuynga ga Rulyapa: some areas are open to all; some places are only accessible to certain classes of people; some are prohibited to all because they are dangerous or sacred.
We would like to see an enforceable system of sanctions, including fines payable to relevant custodians. This system should apply to all breaches of access arrangements by all users.
At the moment we don't have the means to make non-Yolngu follow our law in the sea. A number of courses of action are open to us to make other Australians understand that we have rights and responsibilities for the sea derived from our law.
In the first instance we would like to approach the Northern Territory and Australian Governments, and other people with interests in our seas, to start discussions with them about recognition of our sea rights. However, if they do not listen to us, then it may be necessary for us to apply to the Native Title Tribunal for a determination of our native title sea rights.
It may take years to achieve any determination of our sea rights through litigation. During this time irreversible damage could be done to our marine estates. A negotiated settlement would provide the quickest outcome and the one most likely to succeed, given that it could only be struck with the consent of all parties. Failing that, legal action as outlined may mean that an Australian court could eventually force governments to at least speak to us about the way our law works in the sea.
5. Governments should acknowledge and support the application of Yolngu law throughout Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
SHIPPING
Currently the Australian Government is spending a lot of time and money watching for vessels entering Manbuynga ga Rulyapa illegally. We see this activity as something Yolngu should be much more involved in. We are the eyes and ears of Manbuynga ga Rulyapa and have looked after this coast for thousands of years. Surveillance of maritime activity within Manbuynga ga Rulyapa could provide employment for Yolngu.
There are several navigation beacons on Yolngu land. All are unmanned but could provide employment and help outstation development if they were staffed. Yolngu would like to own and operate the navigation aids network in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
The level of shipping activity in our waters has been increasing rapidly for the last fifty years and has now begun to affect our privacy even in our remotest homelands. The sound of generators and the deck lights of vessels anchoring at night close to our homes disturbs our children and old people. We see more and more large ships passing close to our lands at places like Martjanba (Cape Wessel) which is fringed with dangerous reefs. We are afraid that one of these ships might stray off course and crash into one of our islands.
We want to be able to set certain minimum standards for ships using our waters. These standards would include at least the following:
Except when in distress, vessels using Manbuynga ga Rulyapa must not anchor within sight or sound of Yolngu wanga (homes) or fishing or hunting grounds without the express permission of native title holders and residents.
No ballast or bilge should be dumped in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa until it has been checked for foreign organisms and other contaminants.
Ships carrying toxic cargoes through Manbuynga ga Rulyapa must be double-hulled.
Boats anchoring in the area for any length of time should use non dieldrin/dioxin based antifoul coatings.
The international shipping lanes which are currently just north of Martjanba should be moved north by 20 miles.
6. Yolngu want to be able to set minimum safety standards for ships using their waters.
FISHING
The Norwegian Chief Justice stated in his recent report on indigenous fisheries, which was accepted by the Norwegian Government, that the fishing rights of indigenous peoples took precedence over the fishing livelihoods of non-indigenous people. This has also been accepted by the highest courts in Canada and the USA. Many cases throughout the world have shown the capacity of indigenous peoples, with their irreplaceable knowledge, to contribute to coastal zone management in a positive spirit.
In line with fisheries policy developments elsewhere in the world we want commercial fishing activity in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa to come under our control. We would like to participate in an overhaul of fisheries legislation, but not just from the position of seeking to protect our native title subsistence fishing rights. We would also like to see the decentralisation of policy making and the regionalisation of the management of our fisheries. This would mean changing the way fisheries are managed, from species management based on no input from Yolngu, to a focus on systems and habitat management with a central role for resident custodians.
Under the management arrangements we are proposing some sacrifice in revenue will have to made for the sake of sustainability of the system as a whole. Only those fishing techniques that eliminate or at least minimise the catching of species such as crocodiles, whales, dugong, turtles or large sharks would be allowable in the area. We want our laws about large animals in the waters of Manbuynga and Rulyapa backed up by legislation so that it applies to all users.
The rules for commercial and recreational fishers in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa should be the same as they are for native title holding subsistence fishers. No 'waste' fish should be abandoned by fishers. We don't waste fish no matter what type it is. Sometimes we see boats just dumping dead fish over the side. This causes people in our communities great distress. We don't want to continue to see dead fish washing up on our beaches.
We say that surplus fishing catch must be shared according to customary law. There are complex distribution mechanisms within our law which help to make sure people in the community do not take more than is needed or can be provided. We have an effective and sustainable system for distribution of fish resource rights, but that system is neither understood nor respected by other fishers.
We would like to negotiate with government about buying out the people who currently own the boats and licenses endorsed to work in our area so that we can work them ourselves. In that way we could be sure that the people working in our sea country understand and respect our management system.
If we achieve our aim of having our management arrangements for our fisheries acknowledged by government and we are able to buy out all the commercial fishing licenses endorsed for our area then government, industry and community co-management could work for the benefit of us all in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
7. Yolngu want to own and operate commercial fishing enterprises in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa and to have a say in the way they are regulated.
PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND MINING
When talking about land and sea in Yolngu way, the sea is the same as the land. On our lands in the Northern Territory land rights legislation allows us to make the decisions concerning exploration and mining proposals in our country. But land rights stop, under your law, where the sea meets up with the land. We want the right to say yes or no to exploration and mining in our land and sea country and we want this right fixed in the constitution so it cannot be changed.
Some petroleum exploration blocks in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa have recently been put out to the industry by the Federal Government for auction without adequate consultation with us. We would like to see a moratorium on the release of any more areas for exploration until a way can be found to properly take our interests in the sea and the seabed into account in the process.
8. Mining proposals for the sea bed and subterraneous minerals should be processed according to the principles of Yolngu customary law.
RECONCILIATION
Before anyone can understand and effectively cooperate with our protection strategy for our marine resources they need a commitment, which we call raypirri, to trying to get to truly know this system. If you can't understand or don't want to put in the effort, you might as well forget about it, because you would find it all too complex. This commitment involves woburr (this means literally, sweat, but also means real effort and actual work). Even our young people only get to go through our ceremony and gain this knowledge if the old people judge them to have raypirri and can do the necessary woburr.
An improved mutual understanding of each other's way of looking at the sea could be the basis of a lasting and more comprehensive reconciliation between us in this region. The difficulties we will have to overcome to achieve this should not be underestimated by anyone. Our political leaders must educate themselves so that they can act as effective interpreters for both sides and make knowledge of each other's systems more generally available. Just as there are enormous barriers to be overcome before any Yolngu will become international, constitutional and maritime legal experts, there are similar difficulties and requirements for other Australian political leaders to understand the Yolngu view of the sea.
We hope that the existence and effect of Yolngu law in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa will be acknowledged by non-Aboriginal Australians in the same way as Yolngu recognise the existence of Territory and Commonwealth law. The basic goals of the reforms required to deal with our immediate concerns about management of Manbuynga ga Rulyapa and access to our waters for fishing, mining, tourism and shipping, have been outlined above. The principle legislative and administrative means by which each of these goals could be progressively met need to be identified and a model of a comprehensive future management arrangement of Manbuynga ga Rulyapa needs to be developed for consideration and discussion.
CONCLUSION
We would like to immediately take up the issues raised here with governments and industry groups and all those Australians who want to work with us to protect our marine estate. In that spirit we would like to take this opportunity to invite Australian Government ministers and other community leaders who have the necessary raypirri, and are willing to put in the woburr, to come and learn about Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
Their efforts should be complemented by a comprehensive public education program about the Yolngu relationship to the sea and our cultural and ecological knowledge base about Manbuynga ga Rulyapa.
Allowing us to progressively assume responsibility for various levels of management control is the best way to ensure that this part of the Australian coastline remains healthy and productive. Once our rights are recognised we can begin the process of negotiation with existing users. We acknowledge that they have certain rights because government gave them permission to use the area, but we are asserting that we have prior rights in Manbuynga ga Rulyapa. We do not expect that the errors of the past can be righted overnight. However many of the matters we are concerned about could be resolved quite easily through discussion and negotiation based on goodwill.
We hope that our model for Yolngu resource
management may be useful elsewhere to assist other Aboriginal
peoples and governments to take further steps towards the
formation of a new marine resource management policy for the all
Australian waters that maximises the positive contribution
indigenous people of Australia can make to the protection of
these vital resources.
Galiwin'ku Community, Elcho Island, Arnhem Land, November
1994.
Also - Press Releases |
|
