The story of saltwater crocodiles in the NT starts way back in history. Well before Australia was colonised, the indigenous Aboriginal inhabitants of the north had learnt to live with crocodiles - over some 40,000 years. They ate the eggs, killed and ate the crocodiles, and incorporated crocodiles into the many stories and "business" that lies at the heart of Aboriginal culture. Of course, crocodiles also preyed on Aboriginal people from time to time.

With settlement of the remote north in the mid-1800’s, and attempts to raise livestock, crocodiles were considered vermin and the "stuff" of adventurous sport hunting in the colonies - complete with pith helmets and black powder guns. Saltwater crocodiles are big and awe-inspiring. Males reaching 5 m long regularly and some odd individuals reaching 6-7 meters.

But access to the remote swamps and rivers was still very limited in these early days, and many areas were "off-limits": occupied only by Aboriginal people. There is no doubt that crocodiles sustained this level of harvest, because they were still abundant by the 1930’s and 1940’s.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, in which millions of people had been killed, the situation changed. The market for Saltwater crocodile skins increased, spotlight hunting developed, and the fishermen working the remote north coast found an abundant new resource that could be harvested. No one cared much - if at all - about crocodiles. And no one considered that the abundant populations could ever be adversely affected by hunting.

Starting in 1945-46, the first phase of hunting saw some 80,000 animals taken up to 1959. These included animals that existed in 1945, when the wild population was thought to be about 80,000, and animals born between 1945 and 1959.

The result was that crocodiles ceased to be an abundant, common animal in the rivers, although strongholds still existed in remote swamps. The hunting continued until 1971, by which time crocodiles were rarely sighted anywhere. Flights over all rivers in the Northern Territory in 1973 revealed only a handful of crocodiles. Spotlight surveys confirmed that adults were few in number, extremely wary, but were still nesting in some remote locations. Most rivers contained hatchlings and one-year olds emanating from 1 or 2 well hidden nests.

In response to effective protection, numbers of juveniles started to build. But as it takes around 15+ years to mature, there was a long way to go. By the late 1970’s the public were seeing large juveniles everywhere .... more crocodiles than they seen since the 1940’s ... and they started to become concerned about public safety. Efforts to win public support for crocodile protection and recovery at that time tended to ignore the public’s concerns, and were largely esoteric ecological arguments - none of which were really based on facts. For example, the suggestion that crocodiles may eat catfish (low value fish) which in turn may eat barramundi (high value fish), with the implication that barramundi numbers would increase if crocodile numbers increased!

In 1979-1980, the NT had 2 fatalities, 2 serious maulings, and a 5 m long crocodile which started attacking fishing boats. The "cull the crocodiles" lobby built strength. It was very clear to people such as myself that unless the NT public as a whole "valued" crocodiles, their long-term recovery was simply not going to be realised. I valued crocodiles .... and still do today .... simply because I like them. But large predators that will eat you and your children if given the opportunity, are just not something that the public as a whole "warms" to, no matter what ecological role may be proposed for them.

The Government of the Northern Territory started 3 programs: an education program so that people understood what was happening with the recovering populations, a problem crocodile program that removed crocodiles attacking cattle, and in Darwin Harbour, where the probability of an attack was highest, and a commercial use program, which through crocodile farming, aimed to make crocodiles an economically valuable resource.

The rest is really history. We now have farming programs, captive breeding programs, limited wild harvest programs, lots of tourist operators showing crocodiles to visitors, vibrant markets for crocodile skins, products and meat. There are around 200 people employed through crocodiles out of a total NT population of around 150,000 people. Perhaps most important, all harvests have been sustained, the population continued to increase while it was being used (it has now stabilised), and through television, crocodiles moved became the frontline icon promoting the NT as an international, adventure tour destination. An important role given tourism is the NT’s second biggest industry and the largest employer of people in the NT.

By the year 2000, the wild population is estimated to be 75,000 - close to the pristine population - and there are now lots of large crocodiles, just as there were historically. These in turn eat the smaller ones, controlling their own populations. They occupy all coastal rivers and swamps across the complete NT coastline, and it is only really in Darwin Harbour that the population is deliberately reduced through a "problem crocodile" program to improve public safety.

So what are the main lessons learnt:

• Crocodiles are tenacious survivors, and if their habitats are intact, depleted populations can recover surprisingly quickly if their habitats are intact and they are given the opportunity.

• Crocodile populations can sustain significant ongoing harvests, even while they are recovering.

• The public were not prepared to accept a complete recovery of large, dangerous predators, in all rivers and wetlands, until their value to the community was improved through tangible economic benefits to the community.