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Further implications
The fate of this proposal to allow crocodile safaris in the Northern Territory is not clear. It does not have the approval of the Environment Minister, whose sanction is generally necessary for this development to be approved.
Since 2009 a succession of Northern Territory Crocodile Management plans, incorporating crocodile safaris, have had that element of the plan rejected by a series of federal Environment Ministers.
There is clearly a significant pressure group within the Northern Territory that wants this development to proceed. The consensus within the environment movement and, up to this point, within the Department of the Environment has been that it should not.
On the face of it, the proposal is a small one. The number of crocodiles to be killed has never been more than 50 and that number is to come out of the 600 crocodiles killed annually for management purposes.
However, a number of the arguments offered do not hold together. It has been claimed that the crocodiles to be hunted will not be those 'rogue' crocodiles killed each year within the 600 quota. Does this mean that crocodiles deemed a threat to human populations will remain alive because more than the quota have already been taken by safari hunters? This seems unlikely. On this argument alone, the number to be taken seems likely to expand.
It has also been noted that very few of these safaris will be under the direct supervision of Northern Territory Parks staff. Thus there is the clear capacity for a larger number of crocodiles than that sanctioned to be hunted.
It is also the case that for this 'industry' to make any significant difference to the Indigenous communities it is supposed to assist, large prices will have to be charged per animal hunted. One price muted is $50,000. In Africa, where large game animals are becoming rare, safari hunters will pay up to $350,000. Where hunting is linked to profit, the scope for corruption exists. This has happened all over the world.
A ban on the commercial hunting of Saltwater Crocodiles is what has allowed them to reach their current numbers within the Northern Territory. Prior to this ban, they had been hunted to the brink of extinction. Opponents of crocodile safaris are concerned about the long-term consequences of allowing such safaris to begin in a new form. If Australia becomes the last recourse of the crocodile hunter, this does not bode well for the species.