WfHC - cover page (not to be used with pre-printed report ... - CSIRO

Marcus Barber: Are there any barramundi in those billabongs?
Philip Yam: I seen barra only at… Crosbie, because we caught a few barra on the Crosbie.
But not in the waterholes, we never ever get them in the waterholes. So they just probably
live in the rivers.
Marcus Barber: So you can‟t remember ever getting one in the waterholes?
Philip Yam: No. Probably barra in there but we don‟t catch them.
Marcus Barber: So when you catch them on the rivers, is there a special time of year or is it
anytime, they are always there?
Philip Yam: Anytime we will get them, you‟ll probably see them swimming on the top.
Marcus Barber: And you spear them or catch them with a line.
Philip Yam: Catch them with a line, throw a lure.
Marcus Barber: What about along the Eight Mile, are there any barra along the Eight Mile?
Philip Yam: Eight Mile is a pretty dry river. There‟s not hardly any water in there.
Marcus Barber: Not enough water for the barra?
Philip Yam: Yeah.
In an unrecorded casual conversation between Paddy Yam, Philip Yam, Louie Native and
the main researcher Marcus Barber, the Kowanyama men noted the dominance of saratoga
at Mosquito Lagoon. They attributed this to its ability to feed on surface insects in a way that
fish such as barramundi cannot. The way the waterholes along the Eight Mile become
isolated from one another as the the dry season progresses was also noted as a possible
explanation. Ex-cattlemen such as Paddy Yam have described how they did not have much
time to fish when they were working at Oriners in the past, as they were focused on the
cattle. But they are familiar with aspects of wider animal behaviour, such as that freshwater
crocs will „have a big feed‟ and then they won‟t eat for a long period, perhaps a month or
more. The high croc numbers noted above at a smaller billabong on the Eight Mile near
Oriners was thought to perhaps be because the human hunting pressure for the eggs has
not been high over the last ten years. Taking the station area in general, Philip Yam was
willing to assert the consistent presence of the same aquatic species as when he first
observed it, but less willing to speculate about changes in population numbers:
Marcus Barber: Those fish and crocs we were talking about. Since you first saw Oriners,
have any of the numbers gone up or gone down?
Philip Yam: I think, it‟s, you‟ll get fish in any waterhole.
Marcus Barber: we were talking with Jeff about erosion and pig damage to the wetlands.
But you have not seen any big changes to the fish at this point, they are still there?
Philip Yam: They are still there.
Seasonal fishing for prawns and crayfish is an important part of life for Kowanyama people,
both around the main settlement and at Oriners. Fishing by humans competes with fishing by
pelicans, making the timing of fishing particularly important. In the conversation below, the
possibility of crayfish as an indicator of water quality is also considered:
Viv Sinnamon: There might be something in the different ones [lagoons] people go for
crayfish. It‟s a seasonal use. You might be able to get some idea of how dirty those
lagoons are and how long they last. The ones people catch crayfish in, go for crayfish,
[they] fall later in the year. [It depends on] what the water is like, whether it‟s a little bit deep
and stays there, or whether you are beating the birds. There‟s a seasonal thing where
Working Knowledge at Oriners Station, Cape York
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