Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge

Representing traditional ecological knowledge in northern Australia

Traditional knowledge can tell us much about the ecology of northern Australia.

The Nauiyu community from Daly River in the Northern Territory have worked with CSIRO’s Emma Woodward to create a seasonal calendar.

The seasonal cycle recorded on the calendar closely follows the cycle of annual speargrass (Sarga spp.), with many of the 13 seasons identified named according to speargrass life stages.

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Understanding how Indigenous people value rivers

Indigenous people value rivers in many ways. Rivers provide bush foods and medicines, they are part of a culturally significant landscape, and have the potential to sustain future water-related businesses and employment.

So it’s important to know what impact changing river flow patterns and water allocations could have on Indigenous communities.

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Erosion and dams threaten barramundi and prawn fisheries

Kilometre-wide erosion gullies eating their way across Australia’s northern landscape are proving likely culprits as the main source of the sediments that are flushed into the Gulf of Carpentaria each year, possibly smothering prawn and barramundi breeding and rearing habitats.

Researchers involved in the Tropical Rivers & Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) program are trying to find out more about northern Australia’s rivers in the face of demands to develop them as southern water supplies run dry.

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