Turtle, dugong ‘not at risk’
Mayor says no evidence of illicit meat sales
SUGGESTIONS a Cape York community has been involved in the widespread commercial distribution of dugong and turtle meat have been rubbished.
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch has previously been reported as saying some in Cape York, including residents of Lockhart River, are involved in distributing the meat as far afield as Canberra.
“One of the big issues I continue to raise is that neither turtle nor dugong were ever designed to fly,” Mr Entsch said earlier this month.
“My argument is it’s not OK for these animals to be packed up frozen and sent around the country, be it for sale or for other family members to enjoy the taste of turtle or dugong.
“If people want to try this product they should go where it’s being taken.”
Mr Entsch has long been pushing for a moratorium on traditional hunting of threatened species.
But Lockhart River mayor Wayne Butcher this week said there was little evidence to back up Mr Entsch’s comments.
“He’s getting confused with to traditional elders that live outside the community, when they come back to the community to practice their culture they’re hunting and gathering under their native title rights,” he said.
“They take a bit of meat with them.
“There is definitely no commercial value going out of Lockhart River, they don’t even take them each week, it’s all weather dependent.”
Mr Entsch has met with Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg, Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion and Attorney-General George Brandis over concerns animals caught by traditional owners were slaughtered inhumanely.
The three federal ministers will now spearhead a government crackdown on illegal and “cruel” hunting of dugongs and sea turtles, and have flagged moves to introduce more “notake” zones in a bid to stop the selling of the animals’ meat.
Melissa George, CEO of the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance, last week told News Corp the Australian Crime Commission had found claims about the commercialisation of marine turtles and dugongs were “unsubstantiated”.