Healing Sea County and Restoring the Reef: Workshop with Traditional Owners at Ningaloo

By
Johanna Lovecchio, Associate Director
January 17, 2022

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, and Attractions at Ningaloo and the CRCL designed and implemented a workshop with Ningaloo Traditional Owners and Joint Management Board to uncover aspirations for healing sea country and discuss how TO’s want to be involved in future potential coral reef restoration piloting projects. This workshop was an important starting point for a longer discussion around how restoration activities fit within a broader framework of Joint Management between the DBCA and Traditional Owners. The workshop began a process of defining aspirations for healing of Sea Country, the role of restoration in joint management of the reef between Traditional Owners and the DBCA, and opportunities for TO’s to engage in restoration trialling. 

This workshop served as an important starting point for ongoing conversations and efforts. It created space for Traditional Owners to talk about their perspectives and values, and discuss opportunities for meaningful Traditional Owner engagement during restoration experiment planning and implementation. Findings from this workshop are synthesized in this report and are intended to help inform future engagement around restoration activities within the broader context of Joint Management between DBCA and the TO Joint Management Body (JMB), as well as researchers and TO communities in Ningaloo. 

This workshop was designed and delivered through the Resilient Reefs Initiative and the Resilience Accelerator program, a partnership with between the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes at Columbia University.