Tidal Moon
Michael Wear Managing Director The Tidal Moon Sea Cucumbers project is a collaboration with three Aboriginal communities, Mulgana (Shark Bay), Bayungu (Coral Bay / Exmouth) and Thalanyji (Onslow), aiming to develop a viable commercial sea cucumber business while maintaining cultural heritage and environmental stewardship.
Q. What is your vision for Tidal Moon? Tidal Moon was established to reintroduce Australia’s first known export business. Aboriginal Australians were trading goods with Makassan fishermen hundreds of years ago. Our vison is to help mainstream Australia learn about the stories, the people and the landscape of the past. Through our dedication and tenacity, we can prove that Aboriginal people have the capability to create sustainable and low environmental impact
businesses that last for decades. Q. Are you considering export?
We are in the early stages of the journey. Similar to the old trade, we are interested in Singapore, Malaysia and possibly even China (though there are challenges in that market). We are looking to create two markets. One for food and beverage and another for medicinal, health and beauty. Sea cucumbers have properties that can help with collagen and scar tissue healing, and we want to explore the possibility of producing capsules. We are also talking with researchers in Australia and overseas to increase Indigenous engagement around the medicinal side of cucumbers. Q. What advice do you have for other businesses? I am still learning myself. From a personal point of view, what I can say is that you don’t succeed until you fail. Q: As an Indigenous business, what is your approach to employment and working with your local community, and how do you embed this in your business model? We practise cultural directive training, not employment directed training. We look at the heritage of each candidate and enhance their skills through our program. If they are a saltwater person, their program is designed to increase their natural talents on the water and then adapt these skills to an industry standard. Once the participant passes this stage, the second stage is to achieve the required qualifications at a recognised training organisation and then the participant is ready to engage in commercial diving activities. Our retention rate is high, and we have a high impact in the community through the creation of employment pathways into a variety of industries.
A diver harvesting sea cucumbers at Shark Bay in Western Australia. Image courtesy of Tidal Moon
I made the move back to Shark Bay from Perth and started the Tidal Moon business from the ground up. My goal was to create jobs and eventually a middle class of Malgana people that would allow the transition from welfare dependence. Our harvesting is low impact due to our cultural stewardship. Each Aboriginal diver selects and then hand collects sea cucumbers one at a time. We don’t use trawlers or any other method that increases the over fishing of sea cucumbers. During every fishing voyage we make a collective effort to remove as much man-made rubbish as possible. Items such as car/boat batteries, ropes, nets, plastics, bottles, lead sinkers and much more. We simply can’t ignore it – it’s part of our Indigenous saltwater guardianship. It’s our culture and we do it naturally.
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business envoy
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
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