Town must stop crocs to pull in tourists
In the remote township of Jabiru in the heart of Kakadu, Australia’s largest national park, the Aboriginal owners are in a quandary.
They want to attract more tourists but are grappling with a growing problem: crocodiles.
The town, 250km from Darwin, was built in 1982 to service a nearby uranium mine and is due to be dismantled when mining ends in 2021. To save the town, the Mirarr people, whose ancestors go back 65,000 years, want to turn it into a A$450 million (NZ$480m) tourist hub with an international airport, eco-lodges – and a ‘‘croc-free’’ lake allow visitors to swim safety.
But experts believe the cost of tackling the growing crocodile population would be far too high. John Lever, a to in crocodile farmer from Queensland, said to make the lake crocodile-free would require an underwater fence that would need to be regularly replaced. ‘‘Anything is doable if you throw enough money at it but I am not sure it would have a return,’’ he said. ‘‘I know the lake well, they are constantly pulling crocs out of it.’’
Crocodile populations have soared across northern Australia following bans on hunting in the Seventies. In the Northern Territory, there were about 3000 saltwater crocodiles when a hunting ban was imposed in 1971. Today there are thought to be 100,000.
Grahame Webb, who runs a crocodile park in Darwin, said crocodile-proofing the lake would be an engineering feat requiring a 7m fence. ‘‘Crocs can move overland – you can’t just block them off,’’ he said.
Attacks are occurring with greater frequency. Last year a 47-year-old man was killed while walking over a crossing at East Alligator River, Kakadu. In 2014, a 12-year-old boy died while swimming near Jabiru and a 15-year-old was bitten on both arms but survived.
Following the removal of six crocodiles from Jabiru in 2016, Garry Lindner, Kakadu’s crocodile manager, issued a public warning: ‘‘No matter how hot it is, don’t enter Jabiru Lake,’’ he stated. ‘‘Crocs will always see you before you see them.’’