WA’s Shark Bay Will Soon Be Jointly Managed With Traditional Owners

Four Traditional Owners are expected to co-manage new conservation reserves in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, alongside the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction.

A new Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) penned between the Western Australia Government and the Malgana Aboriginal Corporation will see 183,000 hectares of new conservation parks in Gathaagudu/Shark Bay jointly managed with Traditional Owners.

The proposed Malgana Conservation Estate will comprise the Yaringa and Pimbee nature reserves, Edel Land National Park, and the Malgana portion of Nanga National Park.

The jointly managed arrangements will also extend over existing national parks including Dirk Hartog Island, Francois Peron, and conservation parks at Monkey Mia and Shell Beach.

The world-renowned Shark Bay is home to cultural and natural wonders including dugongs and the Hamelin Pool stromatolites – the oldest and largest living fossils in the world.

Hamelin Pool stromatolites | Image by Henkjan Schrijver

Local Malgana man and Chair of the Malgana Joint Management Body, Ben Bellottie, welcomed the collaborative agreement.

‘The signing of this ILUA signifies the continuation of a long but good journey between Malgana Aboriginal Corporation and DBCA’, Bellottie said.

‘I am proud to see Malgana people getting back on Country during this joint management journey and sharing their knowledge and experience to better manage Country’, he added.

Four Traditional Owners will be trained to jointly manage the new estate.

Shark Bay World Heritage Area | @pelusey_life

WA’s Conservation Estate nears five million hectares

Created as part of the WA Government’s Plan for our Parks initiative, the new nature reserves represent a 20% increase in WA’s Conservation Estate.

WA Environment Minister, Reece Whitby, noted that 4.3 million hectares of new conservation areas have now been created under the Parks initiative since 2019.

‘This is an amazing achievement as we move towards our five-million-hectare target’, he said.

‘Expanding protections for Shark Bay will mean more authentic cultural experiences, two-way knowledge exchanges, and dozens of employment opportunities in regional WA’, Whitby added.

Feature image thanks to @pelusey_life