Coorong and Lower Lakes: Oral History of Henry Jones
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1455' target='_blank'>Fishing industry</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1455' target='_blank'>Fisheries</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1049' target='_blank'>Ecological sustainability</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh94008175.html' target='_blank'>Sustainable fisheries</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85114241' target='_blank'>River engineering</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/973' target='_blank'>Water quality</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/867' target='_blank'>Water resources</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048621' target='_blank'>Fishes--Breeding</a>
An interview in three parts with Henry Jones.
Born in 1941, Henry is a sixth generation commercial fisher, and also ran a yabby restaurant for thirty years. He talks about learning to fish from his father, a commercial fisherman at Renmark, in the Riverland; and his grandfather, a First World War veteran. Henry is a member of the Community Stakeholder Taskforce for the Murray-Darling Basin Native Fish Strategy. His commercial licence covers Lake Albert, Lake Alexandrina, Coorong, and the Great Southern Ocean three nautical miles out from Goolwa to Kingston.
Henry talks about: his fishery's World First Environmental Management Plan and Marine Stewardship; the difference between fishing methods/equipment in the Riverland compared with the windy conditions of the Lakes, Coorong and ocean; sustainable fishing practice; effects of water over allocation (upstream); the lack of intermediate floods from the Murray and Darling, affecting the breeding cycle of fish; salt from irrigation; hypersalinity of Coorong, and possible solutions; the closure of the Murray mouth in 1981; counting bird species; and the increase of seals, sting ray, barnacles, and tube worm in the Coorong (now a marine environment); 1992 flood; plant species.
Other fish species mentioned: 'bull nosed mullet'.
Heather Goodall
Jodi Frawley
University of Technology, Sydney
2011-02-11
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
NSW Department of Primary Industries - NSW Fisheries
Copyright University of Technology, Sydney
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English
Coorong and Lower Lakes: Oral History of Tracy Hill
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1455' target='_blank'>Fisheries</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh94008175.html' target='_blank'>Sustainable fisheries</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/3922' target='_blank'>Marine protected areas</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/4994' target='_blank'>Salinity</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85076763.html' target='_blank'>Licenses</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1296' target='_blank'>Marine ecology</a>
<a href='http://dharmae.research.uts.edu.au/items/show/403' target='_blank'>Blackwater</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh96006425' target='_blank'>Introduced fishes</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048694.html' target='_blank'>Fishing regulations</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh87001020.html' target='_blank'>Acid sulfate soils</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/5361' target='_blank'>Fishing nets</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048775' target='_blank'>Fishes--Identification</a>
An interview in six parts with Tracy Hill.
Tracy is a partner in a sustainable commercial fishery, which achieved Marine Stewardship Council certification in 2008. She lives in Meningie and is a member of the Women’s Industry Network and Vice President of the Southern Fisherman’s Association. Tracy expresses concern about the misinformation in discussions around commercial fishing, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and the imbalance in commercial and unregulated recreational fishing. She also discusses the activities of the Women’s Industry Network.
Tracy talks about: the significance of wind power on water movement and fish catch in the water systems; hypersalinity of Coorong South Lagoon; difference between brackish and salty water; brine shrimp – evidence of salinity and system collapse; history behind the construction of barrages, and the sudden changes in fresh/salt content with their opening/closing; Total Allowable Catch (TAC) quotas; Riverland Fishery; Lakes and Coorong Fishery; changes in commercial licensing and fishing methods (e.g. type of nets used); impact of fur seals in the area; harvest rotation (freshwater, estuarine, saltwater) and low-tech, low-impact fishing; management of the Narrung bund (between Lake Albert and Lake Alexandrina); acid sulfate; blackwater from anabranches; public outreach about commercial fishing activities; carp extraction. Other species mentioned: tubeworms (build ‘bombies’ or coral-like tubes), crab, rock lobster, fur seal. Note: Yellowbelly (Golden Perch) are known as Callop in this region of the Murray-Darling Basin.
Tracy also mentions: South Australian Research Development Institute (SARDI), Pew Trust, Marine Scale Fishery, Murray-Darling Basin Plan, Water Act, Women’s Industry Network, South Australian Seafood Industry Awards, Sea Net (Ocean Watch), Regional Development Board, Marine Stewardship Council, PIRSA Fisheries, Ramsar Treaty, National Parks Act, Lower Lakes and Coorong Infrastructure Committee.
Heather Goodall
Jodi Frawley
University of Technology, Sydney
2011-02-10
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
NSW Department of Primary Industries - NSW Fisheries
Copyright University of Technology, Sydney
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English
Coorong and Lower Lakes: Oral History of Gary Hera-Singh
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1455' target='_blank'>Fisheries</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/4120' target='_blank'>Local history</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/6010' target='_blank'>Family histories</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/1296' target='_blank'>Marine ecology</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85045034' target='_blank'>Estuarine ecology</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/4994' target='_blank'>Salinity</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048694.html' target='_blank'>Fishing regulations</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85145461' target='_blank'>Water--Law and legislation</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85076763.html' target='_blank'>Licenses</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh96006425' target='_blank'>Introduced fishes</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/255' target='_blank'>Aboriginal culture</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2003006652' target='_blank'>Traditional ecological knowledge</a>
<a href='http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/6272' target='_blank'>Floods</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh94008175.html' target='_blank'>Sustainable fisheries</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh87001020.html' target='_blank'>Acid sulfate soils</a>
<a href='http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85048775' target='_blank'>Fishes--Identification</a>
An interview in two parts with Gary Hera-Singh.
Gary is a commercial fisher in the Lower Lakes and Coorong Fishery for 28 years; a third generation fisher on his father’s side, and a fifth generation fisher on his mother’s side (lineage to the Rumbelow family, and whalers from Victor Harbour, South Australia). His family came to the Lower Lakes in the 1930s. Gary lives and grew up in the Meningie area, four-hundred metres from Lake Albert. Gary discusses the three different habitats – marine, estuarine (the most productive system), and fresh water. He recalls life as a youngster working at his grandfather’s fish processing business. He has not been able to fish commercially in the Coorong south lagoon for 20 years due to hyper-salinity, and is concerned about the government’s targeting of commercial fishers and fisheries rather than habitat degradation. The low-tech, high physical-input nature and rotational harvesting of the fishing industry is a factor in its sustainability. The Lower Lakes and Coorong Fishery incorporates Lake Albert, Lake Alexandrina, the Coorong from Goolwa to Salt Creek, the ocean from Goolwa Beach Road to outside Kingston. The Coorong relies on Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.
Gary talks about: differences in fishing over 80 years from family history and personal observation ‘every year was different’; history of the Coorong and Lower Lakes Fishery, documented since 1854; the commercial fishing industry in Meningie (including when the coastal road through Meningie and Coorong was main route to Melbourne from Adelaide); history post World War II, including native vegetation land clearing; changes in licensing, which were freely available until mid-1970s when zoning occurred; commercial fishing registration, which influenced fishing behaviour (return on investment) due to administrative load; monthly ‘Catch and Effort’ data reported to government; health of region before construction of barrages 1935-40; the reduction in estuary size of Lake Alexandrina; changes to fish ecology separating salt from fresh water; changes to flood patterns; declining river flows; water extraction; degradation of habitat and lifecycles of estuarine-dependent species; bait fish industry (rock lobster market); the chain affect of water hyper salinity in the South Lagoon on species; brine shrimp – evidence of salinity and system collapse; rate of water release from lakes into the Coorong and sea; high percentage of carp in Lake Alexandrina; ground and surface water flows; 1981 closing of the Murray mouth; acid-sulfate soil; fishery closures in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia; Riverland Fishery (most sustainable model); importance of fish ways to their movement upstream; certification in 2008 of the Lower Lakes and Coorong Fishery; parallels in fishing methods with historical methods; traditional knowledge transfer, Ngarrindjeri peoples.
Gary also discusses the flood of 1956, and a severe drought in the last five years where water levels dropped a metre below sea level.
Other fish mentioned (unspecified species): Australian Salmon, soft-mouthed Hardyhead. Gary discusses an interesting relationship between Dandelion plants and fish movement.
Other mentions: President of Southern Fisherman’s Association (Gary has historical minutes of meetings); Murray-Darling Basin water management plan; Department of Environment; Department of Water; Riverland Fishery (South Australia); Fisheries Act; Marines Stewardship Council Certification; World Wide Fund for Nature, Scheme of Management; Department of Fisheries; South Australian Research Development Institute.
Heather Goodall
Jodi Frawley
University of Technology, Sydney
2011-02-09
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
NSW Department of Primary Industries - NSW Fisheries
Copyright University of Technology, Sydney
application/msword
audio/mpeg
English