  First Nations Australians have a cultural obligation to look after land and
sea Country, and Indigenous-partnered science is beginning to drive socially
inclusive initiatives in conservation. The Australian Institute of Marine
Science has partnered with Indigenous communities in systematically collecting
monitoring data to understand the natural variability of ecological communities
and better inform sea Country management. Monitoring partnerships are centred
around the 2-way sharing of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, training in
science and technology, and developing communication products that can be
accessed across the broader community. We present a case study with the Bardi
Jawi Rangers in northwest Australia focusing on a 3-year co-developed and
co-delivered monitoring dataset for culturally important fish in coral reef
ecosystems. We show how uncertainty estimated by Bayesian statistics can be
incorporated into monitoring indicators and facilitate fuller communication
between scientists and First Nations partners about the limitations of
monitoring to identify change.
