Traditional Owners and area of operation

Culturally, the people of the Maningrida region exhibit extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity. Precolonially, this was a region where two distinct cultural blocs met, the Kuninjku/Bininj Kunwok bloc to the west of the region and the Yolngu cultural bloc to the east. While precolonially there was mixing between these two culture blocs at the margin, within each there were a number of distinct language communities. Today there is a greater social mixing between linguistic communities, but the region remains extraordinarily linguistically and culturally rich and diverse with at least 13 major languages spoken.

One commonality throughout this region is that land is owned by corporate groups generally referred to as patrilineal clans, that is clan membership is inherited from one's father. It is estimated that there are about 100 land-owning clan groups in the Maningrida region, with areas owned by each clan varying enormously, being relatively small in coastal regions and far larger inland and especially on the Arnhem Land escarpment. There are about 35 outstations in the region.

The Djelk Rangers operate in the Maningrida region that is located entirely within the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust. The Maningrida region is administratively defined as the service region of about 10,000 sq kms bounded by the Glyde River to the east, Marrkolidjban Creek to the west, the Cadell River to the south (at Kolorbidahdah) and the Arafura Sea to the north. Of particular environmental significance are the Mann-Liverpool and Cadell-Blyth Rivers catchments. 

Landscape description

The country managed by the Djelk rangers, in association with the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) and traditional owners living on country, falls within the Arnhem Coast bioregion. The Arnhem Coast bioregion is 33,022 sq km, of which some 98.8 per cent is Aboriginal freehold land held under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act (ALRA) 1976.

The Arnhem Coast bioregion comprises a coastal strip extending from just east of the Cobourg Peninsula to just north of the mouth of the Rose River in southeastern Arnhem Land. It also includes the many offshore islands dotted along the coastline. Coastal vegetation includes well-developed heathlands, mangroves and saline flats, with some floodplain and wetland areas with the most significant being the extensive paperbark forest and sedgelands of the Arafura Wetlands. Inland from the coast, the dominant vegetation type is eucalypt stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta), with smaller areas of monsoon rainforest and eucalypt woodlands (NRETA 2005). The coastline and islands are also significant marine turtle breeding habitats as well as significant seabird breeding, feeding and roosting habitats.

Feral buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) have a negative impact within the region especially on wetlands, springs and water quality. The National Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign (BTEC) in the 1970s significantly reduced buffalo numbers in the lowlands of coastal west Arnhem Land. However, during the BTEC shoot-out there was no sign that buffalo in the upper Goomadeer and Liverpool basins were carrying disease and therefore the area was never destocked and continues to support an increasing number of buffalo. Recent estimates for buffalo in the upper Mann and Liverpool basins are 10,000, animals (NLC 2004). Pigs are also locally abundant, causing significant damage to several ecologically important habitats, especially monsoonal rainforest areas. (NLC 2004).

Cane toads entered the bioregion in the 2001 Wet season from the east. Their presence and impact on native fauna causes great distress to traditional owners. There have been regular sightings of dead freshwater crocodiles which may be attributable to crocodiles eating cane toads (NLC 2004). Feral cats are also found in the region, though their population and impact on native species is not known.

Illegal and unwanted fishing are also a major concern to traditional owners and the Djelk Rangers. The Djelk rangers have been at the forefront on detecting illegal foreign fishing vessels (IFFV). However, long distances involved often mean offenders are long gone by the time enforcement officers eventually arrive. Due to the lack of enforcement powers available to Indigenous land and sea management groups there is no local capacity to deal with such incursions on the spot.

As for most areas along the coast of the Northern Territory there is little research on the local scale impacts of inshore fisheries such as mud crab, trepang and barramundi fishing on local food fisheries.