Craig Robertson of River Cruises CQ on Fitzroy River crocodiles

As a trap floats empty, waiting for an elusive saltie in a Queensland river where some resident reptiles even have nicknames, locals have spoken about the dilemma of whether to remove or learn to live with crocs.

They’re the deadly dinosaurs of the deep and in Rockhampton, resident crocodiles of the Fitzroy River are given pet names by locals such as “Bubba” and “Tick Tock”.

Lately however, a few close encounters and sightings of an estimated four-metre saltie outside of traditional crocodile waters has reignited the debate over whether the reptiles should continue to be removed from the river or allowed to stay.

A May crocodile attack in Far North Queensland, which claimed the life of Laura publican Kevin Darmody, also prompted fresh calls from polarising politicians Robbie Katter and Pauline Hanson for a crocodile cull.

One Nation also claimed a survey it conducted found an “overwhelming” four-out-of-five Central and North Queenslanders supported the idea of a cull.

The area of the Fitzroy where the rogue croc has been repeatedly sighted is on the freshwater side of the barrage and regularly used by members of the public for watersports such as skiing and rowing.

It is believed to be the same crocodile that forced the cancellation of a recent rowing regatta and has been targeted for removal since late May by the Department of Environment and Science.

Because of its size, it will be relocated to a licensed zoo or farm if and when captured.

A problem crocodile has been targeted for removal from the Fitzroy River at Pink Lily.

With the floating trap still empty, rangers are now considering using ropes to “directly” capture the elusive croc if their current efforts fail.

Craig Robertson, owner of River Cruises CQ, which operates on the saltwater side of the barrage doesn’t have any issues with crocodiles moving in.

In fact, he said tourists loved it – with many people, including the elderly, seeing crocodiles in the wild for the first time on his boats.

He did support the need for them to be removed if they causing problems or posing a danger to the community.

“Crocodiles are a huge hit with people wanting to see them in the wild, they’re not easy to see in the wild around this area, the further north you go the easier they are to see,” he said.

“We try our best on these tours to use our local knowledge and time we spend on the river to know where they are and we can quite often show where their slides are, and where they’ve been living on the bank.

Craig Robertson from River Cruise CQ.

“Our tourism is the southerners coming up … a lot of people, if they haven’t been on a Territory croc tour and seen a croc in the wild up there, then a lot of people coming through town who jump on our boat, it’s the first crocodile they’ve seen in the wild and they might be grey nomads.

“It’s a very important part of our marketing and our product we supply, other than the sunsets.”

Spending so much time on the river Mr Robertson said he’s gotten to know some of the local crocs that called the Fitzroy home, learning their seasonal behavioural patterns and locations.

He said each crocodile had their own little “territory” in different parts of the river from a regularly snapped salty between the barrage and train bridge to ‘Tick Tock’ the croc near the Lakes Creek meatworks.

One regular was targeted in 2019 when he was tagged as a “problem crocodile” after being found feeding off discarded shark carcasses on a boat ramp.

Captured crocodiles are sent to licensed zoos or farms. Photo: © Queensland Government.

“Obviously I didn’t want them to move that crocodile out of our area four years ago but it had to be done,” he said.

“We have another new little croc we see all the time now, we nicknamed him Bubba about four years ago when we started seeing him, he just moved straight back into the spot where the other croc was and he’s been there ever since and he’s a three metre croc now.

“We’ve experienced two four metre crocodiles fighting on one of our cruises about four years ago.

“That was Tick Tock … a 4 metre crocodile and he’s never been an issue to anyone.

“Another croc came up and decided they wanted that territory and they had a bit of a blue and Tick Tock won his ground back.”

A problem crocodile has been targeted for removal from the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton.

Further north in the tourist mecca of the Whitsundays, Steve Watson has been running Whitsunday Crocodile Safari for two decades.

The tour takes visitors on a cruise through the Proserpine River where guests can look out for some of the 150 salties that call the estuary home.

Mr Watson said crocodiles were an important part of the ecosystem and people needed to learn to be able to live alongside them.

“They’re the predator – They’re at the top of the food chain,” Mr Watson said

“They’re the ones that keep the balance in the food chain.

“Everything else sort of relies on what’s on top of the food chain.

“For example, crocodiles eat catfish … catfish eat barramundi.

“So if you take away the crocodiles, like they did years ago, the catfish just wiped out the barramundi population.

“They’re part of the habitat.

“They’re natural occupants so we should just leave them alone.

Whitsunday Crocodile Safari owner Steve Watson.

“It’s not a danger so long as anybody doesn’t put themselves at risk.”

Mr Watson said educating locals and visitors about crocodiles and croc safety was important.

“It’s part of education. People need to be told that these animals live in this environment. Put signage and so on. But they need to think more about appropriate education and appropriate behaviour in those habitats,” he said.

“They’re part of the environment just like we are. And of course we don’t look after the environment as well as they do. But yes, people from other areas need to be made aware that this is crocodile country, you can’t just risk going down in the water.”

When visiting Rockhampton in June, Environment Minister Leanne Linard said a crocodile cull was not being considered by the government.

“We know there was culling and they were hunted to near extinction and we don’t ever want to see that again,” she said.

“This is a naturally occurring species here and its protected under the Nature Conservation Act, we want to see them preserved in the wild and I know our communities want to see that too but equally they want to know public safety is a priority.”

Originally published as Craig Robertson of River Cruises CQ on Fitzroy River crocodiles