Sustainable development for Traditional Inhabitants of the Torres Strait Region, Proceedings of the Torres Strait Baseline Study Conference

Proceedings of the Torres Strait Baseline Study Conference edited by David Lawrence and Tim Cansfield-Smith

As part of Torres Strait Baseline study a conference was run on the physical, biological and human environments of the Torres Strait region. The full proceedings of this conference are from the GBRMPA Workshop Series 16.

The first task presented to the Torres Strait Baseline Study managers was to organise a conference on the physical, biological and human environments of the Torres Strait region. The conference was designed to be a forum for the presentation of papers concerning research undertaken in the Torres Strait region and a means for the presentation, and discussion, of the proposed scientific programme of the Baseline Study. The conference on "Sustainable development for Traditional Inhabitants of the Torres Strait Region" was held at the Kewarra Beach Rsort, Cairns, Queensland 19 - 23 November 1990. This publication contains the official proceedings of that conference.

The formal presentations at the conference and the proceedings were grouped into three main headings:

Physical Environment of the Torres Strait Region

This section covered topics including climate change and the impact of sea level rise, oil spill contingency planning in PNG, metal distribution in sediments of the Fly River delta, sedimentation in the Fly delta and the northern Torres Strait and water circulationin the Torres Strait. Other papers presented included the environmental monitoring programmes being managed by both Ok Tedi Mining Company and Porgera Joint Venture.

Biological Environment of the Torres Strait Region

This section covered topics on the status of dugong, research on commercial prawns, biological oceanographic measurements and marine turtles in Torres Strait. The complexities of the biological environment were detailed in papers on Australia's fisheries research in the Torres Strait region, the artisanal turtle fishery in Daru, detrital movement from the Fly River system into the Gulf of Papua, management of the rock lobster fishery in the Torres Strait and the biological research being undertaken in the Fly River system by the Ok Tedi company. Queensland government policies for the fisheries management in the Torres Strait as well as proposals to enhance the commercial rock lobster fishery, scientific research into trace elements in clams and the use of Tridacna as bio-indicators of trace metal pollution were also described.

Human Environment of the Torres Strait Region

This section examined the importance of the marine environment to the Torres Strait Islander culture, the impact of large scale mining on the Wopkaimin landowners in the Ok Tedi region and the subsistence economy of the coastal Kiwai of the Daru region. The proceedings include papers on the need for an information database of resource development activities, traditional fishing of the Torres Strait, indigenous economic development in the Torres Strait region, the effects of bureaucratic concentrations on Thursday Island, the growing internationalism of indigenous people, the environment and human ecology in the middle Fly region, the Torres Strait Treaty and problems and future directions of the Maza Wildlife Management Area.