The Indigenous Community Marine Ranger Program is funded by the NT Government and provides valuable surveillance and research information back to the NT Fisheries Division. Current funding is allocated to eight ranger groups with some 70+ rangers have been trained in a Certificate II Fisheries Compliance course. The success of this program has led to the development of a Measurement and Analysis Certificate II course that will provide rangers with skills in collecting and recording scientific data in both the field and laboratory and a background into natural resource management. Initially 12 students will trained from communities across northern Australia and if successful the course will become available to other marine rangers. This training course will provide benefits to indigenous communities by increasing the marine ranger groups skill set, provide avenues to future employment for students and support their interest in being involved in co-management of their marine resources. These students will also provide a valuable asset in remote areas of northern Australia enabling the collection of a range of scientific information at a much lower cost than if a research team had to travel and conduct the sampling themselves.
This project is funded by the Northern Territory Government, FRDC, WA Fisheries and Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.