'Wall of death' in river

Commercial fishing in Kakadu is under the spotlight after fisho Andrew Lehmann found two crocodiles drowned in an abandoned gill net in Coopers Creek, a tributary of the East Alligator River.

CONCERNS are being raised about the impacts of commercial fishing on wildlife and fish stocks in Kakadu river systems after two crocodiles were found dead in a fishing net at Cooper’s Creek.

Recreational fisherman Andrew Lehmann found the crocodiles, estimated to be 3m and 4.5m in length, in a gill net during a trip down the East Alligator River on the weekend of 14-15 February.

The gill net is believed to have been left abandoned in the river for two weeks.

Mr Lehmann, who works at Blueridge Engineering in Jabiru, posted photos of the crocodiles to Facebook saying he wanted people to understand “what’s happening on this river”.

“I believe the commercial netting is really starting to take its toll on fish numbers, as there is no minimum or maximum size limit on the fish they keep,” he wrote.

“Most people aren’t even aware that the Arnhem Land side of the mouth of the East (Alligator), including Coopers and Murganella creeks, are still allowed to be netted, as well as the area between the mouths of the South and East Alligator.”

Mr Lehmann said he had witnessed first-hand how commercial nets could “decimate a creek in just a couple of tide changes”.

“The contrast between how a place fishes befrore and after it’s been netted is unbelievable,” he said.

Mr Lehmann’s friend, senior Bunitj clan traditional owner Jonathan Nadji has urged NT Fisheries Minister Willem Westra van Holthe to close the East Alligator river system to all commercial fishermen and restrict commercial tour operators in the area.

“I was very devastated and very angry about this incident,” Mr Nadji told ABC.

“These beautiful animals took a long time to get to this size and they were both killed in gill nets that I don’t want in my clan area.”

Mr Nadji said threatened species including sawfish and the speartooth shark were also caught in commercial nets.

The man accused of leaving the gill net at Coopers Creek is the barramundi spokesperson for the NT Seafood Council, Peter Manning.

Mr Manning is charged with offences under the NT Fisheries Act including abandoning fishing gear.

Craig Ingram, CEO of the Amateur Fisherman’s Association of the Northern Territory (AFANT), said he would like to see gill netting banned completely in the East Alligator.

“It’s one of the Territory’s spectacular rivers and these ‘walls of death’ nets are indiscriminate killers of threatened species,” Mr Ingram said.

“We will definitely be making this an election policy issue.”