Abstract
Lake Condah (Tae Rak) in south-western Victoria, Australia, is one of the world’s most ancient examples of traditional aquaculture, consisting of complex systems of traps and ponds used by Gunditjmara (Indigenous people) over millennia to collect short-finned eel (Anguilla australis) for consumption and trade. Artificial draining of the lake during the nineteenth century reduced surface water retention in the landscape and rendered most of the eel traps inoperable. In this paper, we describe the traditional eel fishery at Lake Condah and its historical and cultural significance to the Gunditjmara people. We document the impacts of European settlement on the traditional eel fishery, and describe the processes and events leading to eventual restoration of the lake and subsequent reactivation of major parts of the traditional aquaculture system. In addition to restoring an important ecological asset to the region, the restoration project provided significant benefits to the Gunditjmara people, including enhanced connection to country and culture, opportunities for economic development and employment, and increased capacity for traditional owners to progress and negotiate outcomes within regulatory and administrative frameworks. Aspects identified as critical to the ultimate success of the Lake Condah restoration project include: open and transparent lines of communication with stakeholders; building of trust and confidence with key individuals over sustained periods; use of strategic and business planning documents to guide activities; commissioning of high quality technical information to support and justify activities; representative leadership structures, and effective use of ‘two-way learning’ across western scientific and indigenous knowledge systems.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the many organisations and individuals who contributed to the Lake Condah Restoration project and the authors of previous work whose documentation of the Lake Condah story forms the basis of much of this paper. We thank two anonymous referees for their constructive and insightful comments on the manuscript. The Australian Society for Fish Biology (ASFB) and the Australian Society for Limnology (ASL) are gratefully acknowledged for their invitation and financial support which allowed DR to attend and present the Lake Condah story to the 2014 ASFB-ASL joint conference in Darwin.
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11160-016-9448-8.
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Rose, D., Bell, D. & Crook, D.A. Restoring habitat and cultural practice in Australia’s oldest and largest traditional aquaculture system. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 26, 589–600 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-016-9426-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-016-9426-1