Impacts on dugongs - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 107

would probably commence dugong-catching as the pearl-shell industry declined.
The Second World War disrupted that predicted increase in dugong fishing;
and, by 1944, the Queensland Director of Native Affairs wrote that the small
amount of dugong oil being produced in Torres Strait was insufficient to meet
local requirements. However, after 1945, production of dugong oil resumed; by
1949, supplies of oil had been obtained from Boigu and Saibai Islands, including
one shipment of 136 gallons . 11 By 1950, another dugong processing station was
operating at Saibai Island, where dugongs were captured using nets and the animals
were either drowned or shot. The dugong oil from Saibai Island supplemented
that of Boigu Island and was used to supply the mainland Aboriginal settlements.
In 1951, however, the Director of Native Affairs reported that the only dugong
oil produced in Torres Strait had been obtained from Boigu Island. By that year,
a small trade in shark oil supplemented the dugong produc e. 12 T he Torres Strait
stations not only supplied the mainland settlements with dugong oil, but also
delivered dugong meat to local markets (Rohde, 1951).
Plans were also made in 1951 to revive the dugong oil industry at Hope Vale,
after the community was re-established there after the Second World War . 13 In
1953, 255 litres of dugong oil (from at least fourteen dugongs) were collected and
sold. Those plans came to an abrupt end in 1953 when the mission vessel sank.
In 1955-1956, irregular trips were made to the hunting grounds. In one month in
1955, informants reported that approximately 150 dugongs were taken for oil and
meat, but generally only irregular trips were made taking three or four dugongs
per trip. No one interviewed at Hope Vale in the 1980s by Smith (1987a) could
recall any hunting having occurred between 1956 and 1960. The early 1960s
saw another attempt to revive the oil industry when a Hope Vale resident built
an eleven-metre boat. As well as being used for other fishing activities, its three
dinghies were used to hunt dugongs for oil and also meat (occasionally taken to
the Mission by truck). In one month in 1961-1962, approximately 120 dugongs
were taken for oil and meat. Outboard motors and rifles were introduced from the
mid to late 1960s. Initially, rifles were used to kill the dugong after harpooning;
however, occasionally dugongs were shot without harpooning. This method was
unsatisfactory as the shot animals sank and were lost. Initially, outboard motors
were used only to get to the hunting area; the boats were powered by oars for the
actual hunt, but eventually motors were used throughout. Informants estimated
that only about five dugongs per year were taken during this period, primarily for
meat. In 1968-1969, requests were made for specific amounts of dugong oil to be
supplied to a Cairns laboratory by the State Government, but those orders were
not fulfilled and dugong hunting reverted to being a subsistence, ceremonial and
recreational activity for the community (Smith, 1987a).
Archival evidence suggests that the production of oil in Torres Strait was
variable during the two decades after 1951. In 1955, the Deputy Director of
Native Affairs stated that dugong oil supplies at Thursday Island were exhausted,
but that the oil could be obtained from Pastoral Supplies Ltd, in Brisbane. In
1958, Chemist Roush of Brisbane reported being unable to obtain supplies of