Crocodiles in Queensland: Commercial farmers call for legalising collection of wild crocodile eggs

AN idea already used in another part of Australia could help control the wild crocodile population and bring thousands of dollars worth of revenue in to Queensland.

North Queensland politicians are calling for a cull of crocodiles. Picture: File

QUEENSLAND’S commercial crocodile farmers are calling on the state government to legalise the collection of wild crocodile eggs so they can stop spending thousands of dollars importing the reptiles from the Northern Territory every year.

Some would also like to be allowed to catch wild female crocodiles for breeding purposes, something not currently permitted in Queensland.

Ranching — the collection of crocodile eggs — has been legal in the $25 million NT crocodile industry since the 1980s, with about 90,000 eggs harvested annually.

This number is being increased to at least 100,000 over the next five years, according to the Northern Territory Crocodile Farming Industry Strategic Plan 2015-2021, since the ranching has not harmed the population of the crocodiles.

The Queensland crocodile farmers say the ability to harvest wild crocodile eggs within the state would help keep thousands of dollars’ worth of revenue in Queensland, while also helping to control the wild crocodile population in place of culling or other alternatives being considered.

Clint Paradise, owner of the Edward River Crocodile Farm in Parmparrow in Cape York Peninsula — Queensland’s oldest crocodile farm — said most farmers are against culling.

“Open slather killing gives people a false sense of security,” he said.

“Education of people is the answer, not culling.”

While debate rages in far north Queensland about how to manage the seemingly increasing wild estuary crocodile population, commercial crocodile farms from Cape York through to Rockhampton supplement their own crocodile stock with ones they buy from the Northern Territory.

Saltwater or estuarine crocodile eggs.

The Wildlife Trade Management Plan — Queensland Crocodile Farming 1 January 2014 — 31 December 2017 states Queensland crocodile farmers are also legally permitted to import from crocodile farms in Western Australia.

Some Queensland farms, such as the Cairns Crocodile Farm and Rockhampton’s Koorana Crocodile Farm, among others, have been forced to open their own second farm in the NT to reduce the cost of importing crocodiles with good quality skin.

Koorana Crocodile Farm owner, John Lever, said his other farm was based in Lambells Lagoon, outside of Darwin. He buys eggs there because they are cheaper. They are then hatched and grown in the NT before being transported to Rockhampton to join his 5000 other crocodiles when they are old enough.

Mr Lever said the practice of crocodile egg ranching in Queensland would help keep the costs down for farmers, keep revenue within the state, and provide employment in indigenous communities in well-known crocodile country such as Cape York.

The average cost of a crocodile egg in the NT at current prices, is about $30 each including tax.

A crocodile nest can have up to 50 eggs, as not all young crocodiles survive as hatchlings in the wild.

Juergen Arnold, who has owned the Melaleuca Crocodile Farm in Mareeba for the past two years, said he imported 1200 young crocodiles from the NT for between $100 to $150 per crocodile in 2016.

The reptiles have to be between one and two-years-old before they can safely travel, with travel costs are on top of the crocodile’s individual price, he said.

Although it would be cheaper to buy the eggs, crocodile eggs and hatchlings are too sensitive to transport, he said.

Mr Arnold said he planned to buy more crocodiles from the NT as he worked on expanding the Melaleuca Crocodile farm, and there was limited choice since he was not able to buy local eggs.

Mr Lever also said money is paid to the landowner if a nest is found on their property.

“About $1000 per nest is paid to the landowner where the nest is found,” he said.

“So the landowners of Queensland are also being deprived of an income from their own natural resource of crocodile eggs.”

Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection Steven Miles, said he believed job opportunities could be created in the indigenous community of Pormparaaw if they were permitted to harvest crocodile eggs.

“I am the ministerial champion for the remote Aboriginal community of Pormparaaw,” he said.

“I have asked the department to consider whether there are any circumstances under which a trial egg harvesting program could be sustainable, and if so what changes to laws and regulations would be required.

“I will consider that advice once I have received it,” he said.

Charles Darwin University Adjunct Senior Research Associate, Dr Adam Britton, conducted a detailed scientific study looking at the viability of a wild crocodile egg harvest between 2006 and 2015, which included an experimental wild harvest of eggs in Pormpuraaw.

The study results have not yet been completed but Dr Britton said he hopes a decision will be made soon.

“Based on these results, I am hoping a decision will be made soon about future wild egg harvests in Queensland,” he said.

“The study was focused around Pormpuraaw for several reasons: collaboration with the local ranger group, some historical information about crocodile nesting there, and the proximity to an existing community-based crocodile farm.”

Mr Paradise said a lot of the eggs were lost to floods anyway, so there should be no reason not to collect them.

He said he would also like to see the Department of Environment and Protection “loosen their strings a little bit” and to provide a number of annual permits for farmers to catch wild female crocodiles to restock farms for breeding purposes, as well as being able to collect eggs.

“A breeder age, egg-laying female from a farm is very hard to source,” he said.

“To get one from the NT, you could pay anything up to $4,000 and then have to transport her over here.

“In a farming environment from an egg, you might wait up to six years, only to have the male possibly not like her.”

Mr Paradise said nine out of 10 crocodiles caught and relocated from Cairns waterways were males.

“The crocodile farms can only handle so many male crocodiles,” he said.

Mr Paradise said permits are given to catch a limited number of wild females annually in the NT.

“We’re not allowed to do that here,” he said.

“Queensland is the hardest state to farm crocodiles.”

Billabong Sanctuary reptile ranger Chris Benstead with a saltwater crocodile egg and a baby freshwater crocodile. Picture: Evan Morgan

The mayors of Douglas, Mareeba and Cassowary Coast councils met last week and have asked for the power to remove crocodiles from local ­waterways.

The regional mayors dismissed calls by federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter for a cull, but want Dr Miles to allow them to remove crocodiles for the sake of locals and tourism.

Captive crocodile consultant, Geoff McClure of Clifton Beach, said the estuary crocodile population appears to be reoccupying areas from before they were hunted a few decades ago.

“Saltwater crocodiles are a solitary animal. They don’t like living with other crocodiles, so if the crocodile numbers go up, then some of the crocodiles have to go into a new territory,” he said.

He said the estuarine crocodiles have started moving into Lake Placid and other areas where people used to swim on a regular basis.

“All crocodiles drink freshwater, so saltwater crocodiles live in freshwater and in the rivers, but have the ability to live in the ocean,” Mr McClure said.

“They prefer to live in swamps and wetlands.”

The saltwater crocodiles have also started to appear in places like Mareeba, on the Atherton Tablelands, where they are not naturally found.

Mr McClure said crocodiles in the Mareeba areas were likely ones that originally escaped from captivity a few years ago.

Mr Arnold, who has owned the Melaleuca Farm for two years, said they had not escaped since he owned the farm as he had spent thousands on improvements.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection said Queensland lacks any systematic, long-term crocodile population survey data which would be a key factor in determining the sustainability of egg harvesting.

“The Queensland Government has recently started a three-year study to collect such data,” she said.

The spokeswoman said the EHP was still waiting results of a separate study.

“There have been studies performed in some Cape York Peninsular rivers via a partnership between a local Indigenous community, local Land and Sea rangers, and a researcher from the Northern Territory,” she said.

“The results of these studies have not yet been compiled by the researcher.

“EHP is aware that the collection of data for the study referred to has been completed, but analysis has not been completed.”

The spokeswoman said the available evidence states that crocodile populations have lower breeding success in Queensland, and often occur at lower densities to those found in the Northern Territory.

“In addition, since the 1970s the Northern Territory has conducted regular crocodile monitoring which provides evidence that egg harvesting is sustainable,” the spokeswoman said.

“As such, more work is needed to determine if similar successful egg harvesting can be achieved in Queensland.”

Changes would also be required to the Australian Government’s Crocodile Wildlife Trade Management Plan which provides for the commercial export of crocodile products from Queensland.

Any changes to the Queensland Crocodile Farming Wildlife Trade Management Plan to include commercial egg harvesting would need to be supported by evidence to demonstrate that harvesting would be sustainable.

Any changes would be subject to Commonwealth approval and dependent on demonstrating that egg harvesting is sustainable, the spokeswoman said.

This Commonwealth legislative requirement is in place, at least in part, to ensure that Australia meets its obligations under the CITES treaty.

Estuarine crocodiles are also a listed species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The aim of the international agreement is to ensure that international trade in wild animal specimens and plants does not threaten their survival.

The NT has had CITES accreditation for ranching of wild eggs for commercial production since about 1985, and received CITES accreditation for harvesting to expand to include hatchlings and juveniles in 1990.

Originally published as Crocodiles in Queensland: Commercial farmers call for legalising collection of wild crocodile eggs