Indigenous Eel Farming – Historic AND Sustainable?

A mix of contemporary and traditional eel farming techniques is the basis of the Lake Condah Sustainable Development Project. The historic, as well as potential eel-harvests – from traditionally-constructed eel aquaculture systems – is being investigated in SW Vic.

I think Primary School students would love to hear stories like this…

10,000 years ago a volcanic landscape near Portland in south-western Victoria was home to a large, settled Aboriginal community systematically farming eels for food and trade – one of Australia’s earliest and largest aquaculture ventures?

What Happened Then

This area is/was a haven for shortfin eels that migrate from Vanuatu and New Caledonia, almost 3000 kilometres away, attracted by the climate and abundant moisture of the Portland region.

Evidence produced by Monash postdoctoral fellow Dr Heather Builth shows that;

• The local Gunditjmara people modified a vast tract of swampland to trap and farm eels
• Rivers that served as natural migration corridors for the eels were blocked off by the Gunditjmara people to create wetlands
• They then used a series of man-made channels to harvest the eels for food and trade
• Blackwood trees were used to smoke the eels and Blackwood oil was taken and rubbed on the body or drunk for medicinal purposes
• These traditional practices disappeared soon after the land was taken over by squatters in the 1830s and 1840s and the swamps and lake drained
• The relatively high rainfall in combination with the landscape features provided a permanent and abundant supply of eels that enabled high-density living, rather than a nomadic lifestyle;
  

  “a quite different, complex Aboriginal community based on a sustainable economy driven by eels,” says Dr Builth.

What Is Happening Today?

• Three traditional aquaculture nodes will be restored for demonstration, cultural tourism and educational purposes
• New technologies will replicate traditional nets and eel baskets, while access tracks and natural vegetation will be restored.

The managing consortium consists of the Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation, a National Landcare Project, local industries, farmers and Victorian Government department and educational institutions.

A fascinating project – what do you think?