Christmas greetings from Croker Island.
As I write this blog post the monsoon has formed over the Top End and the wet season has begun. This has resulted in an 'explosion' of life - both plant and animal. Areas that were dry and dusty just two weeks ago are now lush green. Likewise the animal world, just a short time ago was in survival mode, hanging out for the rains but now they are much happier. Driving to the Croker Island airport to fly to Darwin this week we drive across a flood plain. The transformation has been amazing. Thousands of horses have moved in to take advantage of the green grass along with many types of birds - brolgas, magpie geese, jabirus and many other waters birds.
The rangers close over Christmas New Year. We will spend this time in Darwin with our family. Since the last post the Grngi Rangers have been very busy.
Large amounts marine litter is washed up onto the beaches around Croker Island - some of which comes from other countries. This litter includes all shapes and sizes of bottles, buoys, foam and old fishing nets. Recently some visitors and two NT Water Police joined us on a beach patrol. This is just one of the many pieces of net we collected.
This little fellow had taken up residence in one old net we collected on a beach.
Nearby, there was a small fresh water creek just behind a beach. The rangers told us of the very large croc who lived here. We didn't see him however we did see his well worn track between the fresh water and salt water.
We decided to install a trail motion sensing camera. Unfortunately he was not keen on stopping and smiling for the camera.
Below are some of our recent visitors including two NT Water police (in the blue shirts) helping with a beach clean up. The rangers currently do not have any powers to enforce marine and fisheries regulations however we are their eyes and ears. In 2021 compliance training for the rangers will begin which will hopefully result in some rangers becoming inspectors with some powers.
Two of the rangers lighting a pile of old nets and other marine rubbish.
Recently the Garngi Rangers were called out for a search on a Saturday as four young men had failed to return from a turtle hunting boat trip. Their families were understandably concerned. Most of the locals do not carry safety gear like life jackets and emergency locator beacons etc. The family knew the rough area where the hunters would be. After liasing with the local police we set off heading south down the east coast of Croker Island. You may notice in the photo below the increasing amount of cloud compared to earlier posts - a good sign of increased humidity. The sky and the sea in the photo below look very calm and peaceful. Just a few hours after this photo was taken a huge storm passed through this area.
In the distance we spotted some smoke and were confident that this would lead us to the lost hunters.
And so it did. They were located on the mainland just south east of Croker Island. This is favourite turtle and dugong hunting area due to the shallow and shelters waters with large areas of sea grass.
Due to the lights winds over recent weeks the water visibility was very good. In the photo below we are in about 1.5 meters of water and the sea grass can be clearly seen. The man in this photo came along with us as he had a son amongst the missing hunters.
Below, the four hunters - after some repairs and their motor running again. If you double click on the photo you can see the two green turtles they had caught. Both of these turtles had tags in them. The turtle on the right was tagged in the north Great Barrier Reef in 1986 and the turtle on the left was tagged in WA, north west of Broome in 1990. Turtles return every few years to the same area to nest. They travel large distances to do this from their feeding grounds. The scientists tell us that when they are migrating they swim around 30-40 kms per day and usually swim a fairly straight course. Unfortunately for these turtles, their migrations are over.
On a recent vehicle based patrol we spotted this large croc just off the beach - estimated to be around 5 meters.
We wish you all a joyful and peaceful Christmas and New Year period. Stay safe and may God bless you. Catch you in 2021.
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