Traditional Owners and Area of Operation

North east Arnhem Land belongs to a number of groups of people collectively known as Yolngu.

The Yirralka rangers in association with traditional owners manage both land and sea in the Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), which covers 6,900 sq. km, extending south from the Gove Peninsula to Blue Mud Bay. The IPA is home to about 800 people living in communities on 18 homelands.

Landscape Snapshot

The Laynhapuy IPA falls within the 33,022 sq km Arnhem Coast bioregion, 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 off-shore islands dotted along the coastline. Coastal vegetation includes well developed heathlands, mangroves and saline flats, with some floodplain and wetland areas, the most significant being the extensive paperbark forest and sedgelands of the Arafura Swamp. 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.

Wildfire is a less significant issue in this area than in some others across the Northern Territory (NT) for a number of reasons. The area gets occasional showers from the east throughout the drier months which moderates the drying of grass. Also, unlike other wildfire prone areas of the NT, there is an absence of annual sorghum grasses, and importantly people have continued to live on their country and to maintain customary burning practices. Indicators of inappropriate fire regimes and wildfires such as retreating vine forest and extensive stands of dead Cypress pine are generally absent from this region.

Buffalo are the most significant feral animal issue in some areas of the Laynhapuy Homelands, particularly in the southern sections were there are large wetlands. Here saltwater intrusion - caused by buffaloes creating swim channels between saline and freshwater bodies - has resulted in the die-off of many salt sensitive plants. At Balma, rangers believe that increased sedimentation loads due to buffalo activity may be resulting in the smothering of important shellfish beds along the coastline. The harvest of shellfish (particularly oysters) along the coast between the Koolatong and the Maidjunga Rivers was notably poor during 2004 (NLC 2004).

Feral pigs are also causing severe damage in some areas, especially around Gurrumuru and moving east towards Dhalinybuy and around Yilpara. Anecdotal reports suggest that feral pigs are expanding their range, moving southward through the area. It appears they only crossed the Koolatong River around 1999-2000. Cane toads are now well established throughout the region. A number of infestations of crazy ants (Anoplopepis gracilipes) also occured in the area (NLC 2004).

Water quality on Aboriginal lands in the management area of Laynhapuy Homelands is generally described as good. Activities of highest impact on water quality are trampling and wallowing by feral animals in billabongs and riparian margins of waterways (NLC 2004).

Because the area was never used for the pastoral industry there is little evidence of invasive pasture grasses such as gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus), perennial mission grass (Pennisetum polystachion) and water weeds such as aquatic para grass (Urochloa mutica) and hymenachne (Hymenachne amplexicaulis) in the Laynhapuy Homelands. However, annual mission grass (Pennisetum pedicellatum) is present on some homelands and poses a significant threat.

Illegal and unwanted fishing are also a major concern to traditional owners and the Yirralka Rangers. Some of the remote islands and coastline in this region are subject to unregulated recreational and commercial fishing. Long distances from fisheries enforcement officers often mean offenders are long gone by the time enforcement officers eventually arrive. There is often no local capacity to deal with such incursions on the spot. Current funding efforts are focusing on developing local Indigenous capacity by providing the necessary equipment, training and powers for existing community land and sea management rangers to address with these growing problems.

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.