A scientific collaboration between Australian scientists and First Nations Bardi Jawi rangers and elders has highlighted how fish species rely on the connectivity of reef and mangrove ecosystems.The study found that culturally important fish species, which form part of traditional fishery practices in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, migrated between the two ecosystems more than other species.The collaboration enabled Western scientists to draw on millennia of traditional ecological knowledge in carrying out the study and interpreting its findings.While most of the findings were already part of traditional ecological knowledge, rangers say they learned how certain species may not be able to survive if either reefs or mangroves were threatened by climate change and environmental impacts.
In a recent scientific article in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management, alongside the list of scientist-authors were the Bardi Jawi and Oorany Rangers and the Bardi Jawi Traditional Owners.
For the past decade, Bardi Jawi rangers and traditional owners have been working with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to study and protect their mangrove and reef ecosystems, as well as their traditional Indigenous fishing grounds.
