Australian indigenous women’s seafood harvesting practices and prospects for integrating aquaculture

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to explore Australian Indigenous women's customary use of marine resources and views on aquaculture as a development opportunity. The value participants placed on economic, social and cultural outcomes were explored, as were benefit sharing, governance and business considerations. Design/methodology/approach -Using a form of action research, workshops were conducted with a focus group of Indigenous women and interviews with men and women living on a remote island off northern Australia. Multimedia materials and a game were used to elicit a deeper understanding and facilitate discussion. Findings -Women preferred aquaculture options respectful of culture and accommodating cultural and family obligations, that engage young adults in meaningful work, improve access to sea country and provide local foods and support economic development. Participants placed significant dependence on their governance body to support businesses and expressed disparate views on profit sharing. Women continue to engage in customary harvesting and fishing but various limitations impact on this. Research limitations/implications -Conclusions based on one case study need to be confirmed in other communities. Future research should include a broader representation of youth and strategies to improve people's understanding of aquaculture operations and business management. Social implications -This research improves our understanding of Indigenous women's preferred economic development pathways and their advocacy role within the community. These findings are relevant for policy-makers, businesses, other Indigenous communities and researchers.The authors express their gratitude to the Warruwi community for their participation and support for this project. The authors thank colleagues for valuable feedback that improved the paper.Originality/value -This paper seeks to recognise and integrate Indigenous women's economic and cultural aspirations within development policy. Such a place-based, gender-based consultative process is generally lacking in the Australian Indigenous policy arena.

Improving Business Investment Confidence in Culture-Aligned Indigenous Economies in Remote Australian Communities: A Business Support Framework to Better Inform Government Programs

“…In addition to the external seafood economies described above, Warruwi people aspire to use their fisheries resources to develop internal markets to meet demand for fresh nutritious seafood. Fleming et al (2014) found that one of the reasons Indigenous women on Goulburn Island aspired to engage in fisheries activities was to minimise reliance on store purchased foods, and to improve people's diet and nutritional status. The high cost of store purchased foods and the frequently poor quality of fresh product has been cited as a factor in the poor nutritional status of Indigenous people living remotely (Browne, Laurence, & Thorpe, 2009).…”

“…Fleming et al (2014) reviewed the failure points associated with these projects, which include technical and commercial issues that pose a risk to commercial viability as well as significant social and cultural barriers to engagement, participation, and control by the Indigenous clients. In 2011, this ongoing failure prompted the Aquaculture Unit of the Northern Territory Government's Fisheries Division to conduct a literature review of the key success factors for viable community-based enterprise development and Indigenous engagement.…”

“…Selection criteria were based on the findings of a review into past failure points associated with Indigenous aquaculture enterprise projects in northern Australia (Fleming et al, 2014). In relation to business viability, past projects generally lacked robust market research and supply chain analysis and were dependent on significant start up capital for both production systems and supply chain needs.…”

“…The people of Goulburn Island have expressed similar aspirations. Their motivations for setting up fisheries (and other) businesses are to achieve a degree of economic independence through engaging in culture-aligned employment, and, in so doing, to achieve autonomy over their lives and futures and maintain their cultural heritage (Fleming et al, 2014). For a long time past, Goulburn Islanders have responded to opportunities to engage in fisheries commerce: from the very early contact and trade with the Macassan sea cucumber fishermen who visited the northern Australian coast seasonally from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s, to the mission era from 1915 to 1974 when the community exported seafood under missionary control and management, to the community's current work towards ownership and control of their own fisheries-based businesses.…”

“…Program implementation was carried out at Warruwi, a small settlement of about 390 Indigenous people on South Goulburn Island, located 280km northeast of Darwin and 3km off the west Arnhem coast ( Figure 3; see Fleming et al, 2014 andGould, 2010 for further detail on the historic, cultural, and economic context of the study site). People from Goulburn Island belong to one of five major clan groups.…”