A Tale of Two Fisheries: Co-managing Entangled Seas in Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait)

This seminar examines the assumptions, institutions, and politics of fisheries co-management as they are implemented in the Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) region. In the 1980s, governments worldwide introduced co-management arrangements in response to the limitations and problems of centralised, command-and-control, and bio-economic approaches to fisheries management. Recognising that fisheries are complex socio-ecological systems, collaborative management models were seen as more inclusive of fishers’ knowledge and concerns. Co-management arrangements between central governments and Indigenous groups have been widely promoted as ways to empower Indigenous peoples and to access and incorporate their knowledge systems. Today, relations between Indigenous peoples and governments are often described as embracing this collaborative management paradigm.

This seminar explores some of the opportunities and challenges embedded in the managerial structures that shape Indigenous peoples’ rights and decision-making capacities in such contexts. It will also highlight Torres Strait Islanders’ agency both within and outside of the co-management relationship. The seminar advocates a fundamental renegotiation of management relationships to genuinely engage with Indigenous ways of being in the world. It also examines management and bureaucracy as cultural and political practices in their own right. Ultimately, this seminar maintains that collaborative approaches alone are not enough to change the assumptions underlying bio-economic managerial models and the mechanisms that enable their reproduction.

About the Speaker

Annick is a social anthropologist and political ecologist with two decades of work exploring how people relate to coasts and seas. Her research has primarily focused on Indigenous fisheries, environmental stewardship, counter-cartography and Indigenous peoples/settler states relations. Much of this work has grown out of long-term collaboration with Indigenous partners, developing methodologies grounded in reciprocity largely with Torres Strait Islander and Walbunja research partners. She is currently leading an ARC project repatriating 1970s Japanese research on Zenadth Kes. She is also part of the Mapping New Pathways Grand Challenge, led by Bruce Doran. Today's presentation draws on her current book project, based on her doctoral research on Torres Strait fisheries co-management.