Managing Traditional Use
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The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is a multiple use marine park. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (the GBRMPA) manages the human impacts of a wide range of activities by developing marine management tools such as regulations, zoning plans, management plans, site plans, codes of conduct and permit systems. The traditional use of marine resources is an activity carried out in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and refers to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people undertaking activities according to their customs and traditions.
Traditional use activities are managed under the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983 and can also be undertaken under the Native Title Act 1993. The GBRMPA is currently working towards developing Traditional Owner agreements that describe how individual groups would like to manage the traditional use of marine resources in their sea country areas.
Other ways in which the GBRMPA involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park include the:
- conduct of workshops with Traditional Owner groups and other Government agencies
- development of consultation strategies to engage Traditional Owner groups in the GBRMPA's programs
- creation of culturally appropriate policy's that reflect Traditional Owner cultural and heritage values for their sea country
- distribution of posters, newsletters, fact sheets and website information which provide cultural awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples relationships and connection to sea country
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander membership on the Board of the Marine Park Authority, the Great Barrier Reef Consultative Committee and the GBRMPA's four Reef Advisory Committees.
Traditional Owners are continuing to work together with marine management agencies to develop culturally appropriate strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park region in order to keep it great for future generations and to keep their cultures alive.
