The Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation (EMAC) is playing a pivotal role in building marine resilience along Victoria’s Otways and southwest coast through a pioneering research initiative that places Indigenous bio-cultural knowledge at the core of marine conservation.

Back in April, we gathered with our many project partners and collaborators to celebrate the success of the Otways Feral Pig Program and launch the next phase.

Over the past few months we’ve been developing survey methodologies, selecting study sites, building up our volunteer base and putting together training materials, field guides and maps for upcoming fieldwork.

Volunteer training in intertidal and subtidal survey methodology was held on 17 March

Jock and Gregory will discuss their passion for South-West Victorian landscapes and seascapes and how they have shaped their writing, exploring their intoxication and some of the challenges they face with CEC ecologist and marine specialist, Dr. Kay Weltz.  The conversation will be moderated by the wonderful Liz Waters, long-time friend of the CEC and champion of our ocean.

We are thrilled to share that we were recently successful in obtaining additional funding to further our highly successful multi-tenure pig management program, which we have been delivering across the Otways for the past five years.

Fire offers both opportunities and risks for many species. Its impacts will depend on the scale of the fire, the animal’s movement decisions and capacity, and how fire alters the distribution and abundance of key resources.

Tamika Farley-Lehmer (she/her) began working in the fire space as a forest firefighter in 2019, before moving into fire ecology. In her ecologist role, she focussed on implementing science-based burning regimes in the Otways region with the Conservation Ecology Centre. She collaborated on various projects studying the relationships between fire, plants and animals, including animal movement, predator and prey interactions, habitat utilisation, and post-fire plant responses.

On January 1 this year, the commercial logging of native forests ended in Victoria and Western Australia. It was one of the most significant changes in the history of forest management in Australia.