Southern Gulf

The Wellesley Island Group is located within the Southern Gulf NRM region and includes 25 islands, covering 1,300 square kilometres.

The region is the traditional Sea Country of four different groups of First Nations peoples who all share a similar relationship with their Sea Country. The majority of the islanders are from the Lardil people and are the Traditional Owners of the land and surrounding seas. Yangkal tribal lands consist of the islands south of Mornington Island to the Mainland. The Kaiadilt tribal group are the Traditional Owners of Bentinck and Sweers Islands. The coastal mainland region from Massacre Inlet to the Leichhardt River is Gangalidda people Sea Country. The northernmost and largest of islands in the Group is Mornington Island (Kunhanhaa), which is also the most populous.

Seagrass meadows around the Wellesley Islands were first assessed on 10-18 March and 15-30 September 1984 (Coles & Lee Long 1985). Ten species of seagrass were identified from the Group. Large areas of dense seagrass were reported restricted to the southwestern coast of Mornington Island, Government Bay on Forsyth Island, and the southeastern and northeastern coasts of Bentinck lsland. Seagrasses were reported to be sparsely distributed in depths greater than 5m.

In 2006, one of the many issues highlighted within the Sea Country Plan was reports from hunters of underweight and sick dugong and marine turtles in their Sea Country. Through their plan the Traditional Owners requested support and assistance for mapping and monitoring the seagrass habitats that surround the Wellesley Island Group. Following a survey of seagrasses within the region in August 2007 (Taylor et al 2007), Seagrass-Watch conducted a training workshop in October 2007 (Mellors & McKenzie 2007) on Mornington Island in collaboration with the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (CLCAC) and the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA).

Long-term Seagrass-Watch monitoring has only been established at one location in the island group to date, although there are a number of other locations identified as suitable for long-term monitoring.