高清福利片

So much more than just a culinary delicacy, oysters play a critical role in keeping estuaries clean and ecosystems thriving. A single adult oyster can purify over 200 litres of water per day, filtering toxins and microplastics, while natural oyster reefs provide food and shelter for fish, increase biodiversity and reduce erosion.

However, oyster reefs no longer provide the benefits they once did. Australia has already lost an estimated 99 percent of its Sydney rock oyster reefs and more than 92 percent of mud or flat oyster reefs. It鈥檚 believed that overharvesting for food and construction in the early days of European settlement, deforestation, and the impacts of our ever-changing climate have led to near extinction.聽

Meeting the challenge of reversing the oyster population鈥檚 decline is Dr Mitchell Gibbs (PhD (Science) 鈥�21), a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney鈥檚 School of Geosciences. He spends many of his days speaking with Elders across Australia鈥檚 eastern coast, sharing ecological research and his own understanding of oyster farming and coastal management.

鈥淚 primarily sit down with Elders and knowledge holders and listen to them talk about their oral and lived history 鈥� what they鈥檝e done in their lives and what they鈥檝e seen,鈥� Gibbs says. 鈥淭hen I show the principles of science that are held within this. So this is driven by community 鈥� about what, where and how they want restoration to be done.鈥澛�

This exchange of Western science and First Nations Knowledge will allow community members to have a say in future reef restoration processes, which is what Gibbs is all about. 鈥淢y interests lie in making sure that the knowledge Elders are sharing is being saved and passed down for the next generations. This knowledge is stored with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and in academia 鈥� for knowledge that has been approved to be shared in the academic space,鈥� Gibbs says. 鈥淲hile this helps the health of the oysters鈥� environment, it also brings back places of practices, places of continued shared knowledge and places of sovereignty.

鈥淲e hope to be able to change the way restoration is done, ensuring that community members have a valid and meaningful say about what is happening, and hopefully to generate policy change.鈥�

When he lectures students at the University of Sydney, Gibbs emphasises the fact that First Nations Knowledge is deeply place-based. 鈥淓ach nation possesses its own unique organisms, ecosystems and practices that cannot be universally applied to other communities,鈥� Gibbs says. 鈥淢odern science, by comparison, tends to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, using the same cultivation and restoration techniques for every oyster bed.鈥�

Gibbs believes in bridging the gap between the two approaches and nurturing generational stories so that scientists can learn from First Nations histories.

Community has always played a significant role in Gibbs鈥� life. A Dunghutti man through kinship, he grew up near聽Willawarrin, 30 kilometres west of Kempsey, in the Dunghutti nation. When Gibbs was a child, there were around 110 people in Willawarrin. They had a single main street, a post office and a pub. He spent a lot of his time with his father, who taught him and his twin brother about the ecosystems thriving in their backyard.

鈥淲e grew up on 100 acres just outside of Willawarrin,鈥� Gibbs recalls. 鈥淲hen we were young, we鈥檇 go up the back of our place, and then my dad would tell us to go home on our own, without his help. So he knew that we could get home without him at any time. When the kookaburras would start laughing in the afternoon, that would be the sign that we had to go home. That鈥檚 when the sun鈥檚 going down. And there were markers in the trees that would point us home.鈥�

After watching an episode of聽Blue Heelers, young Gibbs dreamt of becoming a police officer. His nan urged him to go to university instead, so he chose to study the closest thing to his enthusiasm for the force, forensic science. A stint in forensics, including an honours degree studying fluorescein (a blood test reagent used in crime scenes), opened a world of options in the science field.

The next step for Gibbs was pursuing a PhD in biochemistry and marine biology at the University of Sydney. But when his research grant ran dry and his father fell ill, he struggled to find a way to continue his candidature.

鈥淚 was travelling up home because my dad was going through chemo at the time, every three weeks,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd so I鈥檇 apply for jobs, but then I鈥檇 have to tell them that I was going to be away for a week out of every three. And a lot of places weren鈥檛 really happy with that.鈥�

He reached out to an organisation that provides educational scholarships to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander聽students, the GO Foundation, which supported him to be with his father and helped him through this challenging time.

Fast forward to 2023, and Gibbs鈥� academic career is going from strength to strength. He has been granted a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship, awarded to select scholars for their commitment to fostering cross-cultural understanding, with funding for an international exchange opportunity.

Gibbs plans to collaborate with Western Washington University on a project that learns about successful habitat restoration projects from Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. These projects have started with community engagement and, as such, Gibbs says they have been tremendously successful. This includes exchanging knowledge of shellfish between cultures, such as their practice of cultivating and harvesting clams through clam gardens 鈥� purposefully constructed rock walls that create ideal conditions for clam growth.

Gibbs wants to bring back this systematic approach of restoration to better help Australian First Nations communities to be active members in restoration. This will ensure that communities have a meaningful say about what happens in their backyards.

In the United States, he will also examine how the Pacific Northwest region keeps open communication with its Indigenous groups. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a very acknowledging and respectful relationship with Washington State, as well as with Western Washington University. That鈥檚 something which we don鈥檛 have in Australia,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hat I鈥檒l be doing is聽understanding the interactions between the community and the university and government, and making sure that when we do restoration here, we do it in a similar way to make sure that it is inclusive of communities and not just tokenistic.鈥�

Gibbs鈥� ambition is to make sure First Nations storytelling scales beyond the research he is doing in the US. He hopes that Australia鈥檚 future is one with a firm grasp on conserving First Nations practices relating to coastal management and beyond.

鈥淚n addition to learning from Elders and knowledge holders, this also means making space for the continued practice of traditional knowledge 鈥� allowing it to be taught in universities or schools (for information that has been approved by communities) so that we can all do our part to protect and help our environment.

鈥淚f you asked me what my greatest ambition is, I鈥檇 say to properly incorporate Indigenous Knowledge into university. This means to have meaningful input from community members into curriculums and to have community Elders recognised for being knowledge holders, including as lecturers or teachers.鈥澛�

Gibbs hopes his expertise as a postdoctoral researcher will serve as a powerful catalyst. 鈥淚鈥檝e been fortunate enough to go through university and learn a certain skill set. So the best thing I can do is make sure that it benefits our community.

鈥淭he whole point of doing my research is to benefit our people. That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 going to do in the future, so that when we start looking at habitat restoration, we鈥檙e looking at it in terms of what community wants and what is beneficial for our community.鈥�