Saltwater people working together
Ms Jen Goldberg, Mr Eli Tabuai, Ms Jane Blackwood, Mr Philiip Mango
GhostNets Australia , an alliance of over 36 Indigenous Communities across Northern Australia, have been working on a goal since 2004 -to remove the coasts of deadly derelict fishing net (ghost net). Aside from rafts of marine debris arriving from south east Asia, the region is pristine, supports an array of threatened species including six of the world's seven marine turtle species and four sawfish species, and is mostly owned and occupied by Indigenous peoples of Australia. To date Rangers have removed over 12,000 ghost nets of varying sizes -- huge results with few resources. This has resulted in the recovery of a proportion of the trapped wildlife, particularly marine turtles (52%), and the prevention of the ghost nets from returning to the sea to continue their destructive life-cycle. Less than 10% of these nets have been attributed to Australian fisheries. In addition to removing the net, the program recycles net through an Art Initiative, as well as an increasing effort to track the net to its source, and raise awareness there. This project is also enabling Aboriginal communities to fulfil their aspirations of having stewardship of their customary lands and adjacent marine environment, known as caring for country."