Table 3.

In lutruwita (Tasmania), Marineer Shell (Phasianotrochus rutilus) necklace making is a palawa pakana traditional practice that has continued over thousands of years. Shell-necklaces were once crafted as jewellery and used for trade purposes. King, Queen and standard marineers were not just palawa nicknames handed down through generations, status was allocated to each of the marineer species and the resulting necklaces. Necklaces were reflective of the status allocated to the owner from the creator, and clan as a whole. Here, Elder and shell-necklace maker, Lola Greeno, shares her account of the current impacts of pollution on her art and culture. (Photo credit: Dean Greeno)

“To harvest the marina shells, it requires the shell collector, to first study the tide level to find out what day of the month and the time of the day, that the tide level will be less than half a metre. Experienced collectors will be on the beach just before low tide, allowing time to set up as the tide runs out and gives a couple of hours to gather before the tides starts coming back into shore. The low tide needs to be during daylight hours as safety precaution. In a calendar year, the shell collectors may get two good tides for gathering. The shell collector tries to gather enough to last 12 months. They need about a sugar bowl full to freeze and mix with other shells to create her patterns for a number of pieces in a year. The regime allows time for the shells to continue to spawn. The full cycle from where the shells go out into 30 feet of water to breed drop the roe and come into shore and grown fully by end of April In the last 10 years we have seen a gradual change to seabeds and collection areas around Flinders Island. In some collecting seasons, very few shells are available to harvest. We have seen a site close to shore, where land run-off into the sea, makes the shells have acid burnt tips. We have seen areas where the kelp is very scarce in the bay where many recreational boats are moored. The boat slip has almost wiped out one species with run off from boats paints. In one bay we saw a lot of grey algae and next bay where there is an abalone fish farm, if the abalone escape, they compete with the marina shells for food. The other competition is from the global warming of water temperature. The non-science person does not understand the pollution risks or what the warmer sea does to spawning mollusc of the marina shells.”