Participatory Mapping of Karajarri Sea Country Knowledge to Guide IPA Zoning and Ranger Management

ABSTRACT

The expansion of Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) into coastal and marine environments requires spatial planning approaches that support Traditional Owner aspirations for Sea Country management while respecting Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). Karajarri Traditional Lands Association and Karajarri Rangers have recently expanded management across more than 237,489 ha of Sea Country in south‐west Kimberley, Western Australia, where limited western scientific data are available for marine planning. This study describes a collaborative participatory mapping project with Karajarri Rangers and Traditional Owners to document Karajarri Indigenous Knowledge (IK) of culturally important species distributions and community coastal activities to inform Sea Country IPA planning. Across two fieldtrips, 29 Karajarri Traditional Owners participated in mapping workshops that documented spatial knowledge for 36 species and eight community activities. The mapped outputs identified areas of high knowledge‐marking intensity along the coastline, particularly around tidal creeks, rocky headlands, sandy beaches and areas where multiple culturally important species or harvesting activities overlapped. Karajarri IK recorded was able to document species distributions across a greater spatial scale than current western knowledge and kernel density estimation analysis on QGIS identified hotspots of high usage and cultural significance to the community. Co‐facilitation of the workshops by Rangers and researchers, time spent on Country and the accessibility of the approach contributed to the success of the project. Karajarri IK documented was limited by not capturing a temporal understanding of both species' distributions or community activities. The outputs generated from this project illustrate the utility of applying IK to marine spatial planning and provide new directions for future research in the region. The project demonstrates that participatory mapping can provide an accessible, culturally governed and management relevant method for documenting IK in spatial forms that support Indigenous‐led marine planning.