Keep Top End Coasts Healthy

31/08/2026

When Territorians come together and speak up for the health of our community and Darwin Harbour, we can make a difference. 💙

Last year, INPEX admitted it had massively under-reported hazardous chemicals emissions from its Ichthys LNG facility on Darwin Harbour… including benzene and toluene pollutants were underreported by more than 13,000%.

Territorians rightly objected strongly and called for greater transparency and accountability.

Now, Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne and the CLP Government have introduced the Safe Air Bill, which would establish public monitoring and reporting of industrial pollutants, such as benzene, in the Darwin airshed for the first time.

We commend the Government for taking decisive action. We hope that this action prevents future occurrences.

There is more to do to protect the health of Territorians and Darwin Harbour - our coastal backyard and the source of seafood for many.

This shows what can happen when our community gets informed, gets involved and speaks up together. 👏

Our collective voice matters. Let's keep using it.

Darwin Harbour is threatened by a proposed large industrial precinct at Middle Arm, which will destroy our mangroves, and bring massive fossil fuel and petrochemical pollution to our coastal backyard. Will you help protect our harbour and keep our Top End coasts healthy? Add your name to send a lett...

29/08/2026

We’re at the Mahbilil Cultural Festival in Jabiru today. Come say hello 😊

25/08/2026

This news story is a powerful reminder that caring for our coasts takes people on the ground, combining local knowledge with science. Unexpected coral bleaching shows threats to Top End reefs are already here.

Anindilyakwa Land & Sea Rangers on Groote Eylandt conducted first of its kind research and uncovered potentially new coral species, while also documenting coral bleaching that global satellite technology failed to predict.

The research comes with its challenges, with ALC Land and Sea Manager Kirsten Eden saying: “𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮” because “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 [𝐚𝐧𝐝] 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬"

Our healthy coasts support culture, fishing, marine life and the unique lifestyle we love. With threats rising, now is the time to back the people looking after coasts and strengthen protection for our Top End coasts.

Researchers confirm a 2024 coral bleaching event in remote, crocodile-inhabited Northern Territory waters was not picked up by the latest predictive technologies.

18/08/2026

A 20 metre pygmy blue whale has beached at Groote Eylandt NT. Imagine spotting a whale longer than a basketball court from your 3 metre tinny!

It was still alive - its breath spout observable - as massive sharks attacked. Traditional Owners and the Anindilyakwa Land & Sea Rangers could do nothing but sit by and watch the distressing scene in the shallow waters.

This whale was thin and under-nourished, and 500kms off course. Pygmy blues usually travel from southern Australia, up the WA Coast to their breeding and calving grounds in tropical waters off Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

This might be a one off. Whales do go off course. But this whale's migratory path is under growing pressure - WA's massive marine heatwave, ghost nets and marine debris, shifting currents and food sources due to climate change, and extensive offshore oil, gas and seismic blasting activity.

Seismic blasting, used by the offshore oil and gas industry, fires underwater airguns every 10 to 15 seconds, around the clock for weeks. This intense noise - reaching up to 250 decibels - can impact whales and force them to flee important feeding, mating, and migration areas.

Ranger groups are working hard to manage and protect our remote stretches of coast, and so much of what we know about our northern waters comes from them. The Anindilyakwa Land & Sea Rangers have taken samples of the animal as scientists attempt to work out what happened.

Beneath the waves lies a fragile, vibrant world. It is our duty to keep it safe.

A pygmy blue whale has died after becoming stranded off the coast of Groote Eylandt in what researchers believe is the first time the species has ever been sighted in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

16/08/2026

Good News! Improved management and more eyes on the water for 300kms of the NT coast.

Traditional Owners in South East Arnhem Land have secured management of 861,300 hectares of coast and sea - the largest marine area under Aboriginal management in the Territory.

Ranger teams will be able to monitor dugongs, dolphins and reefs, and better manage major threats such as ghost nets, pollution, coastal development, maritime traffic and illegal fishing. It also means more ranger jobs in the region.

The new marine Indigenous Protected Area will sit alongside protected areas around Groote Eylandt and Marine Parks in Limmen Bight, providing improved protection for marine life like dugong, turtles and sawfish that move throughout the region.

A huge congratulations to everyone who got this over the line - we know it is years in the making.

Full story in the comments.

Country Needs People
Numbulwar Numburindi Sea Rangers
Yugul Mangi Rangers
South East Arnhem Land Indigenous Protected Area
Northern Land Council
Senator Malarndirri McCarthy - Northern Territory
Selena Uibo: Member for Arnhem
Marion Scrymgour MP
Murray Watt - Federal Environment Minister

11/08/2026

We couldn't have got the wins we have without a team of volunteers. Everyday Territorians helped ban destructive seabed mining in NT waters, establish and then later expand Limmen Bight Marine Park, and secure a commitment to phase out commercial gillnetting. There's more good work ahead, and the more hands we have, the more we can do.

We are so lucky to have some of the healthiest tropical coasts in the world. Come help us keep it that way.

Come along to a film night or market stall, meet a friendly crew, and learn a bit more about the coasts and rivers we all love. It's good fun. Just a few hours when it suits you.

Put your hand up today. Add your name using the Sign Up button below, or head to:

Our Top End coasts and lifestyle needs people like you getting involved and helping out. We depend on the support of our volunteers and couldn't achieve great outcomes for our coasts without the valuable contributions of so many dedicated, passionate, committed and talented people.

08/08/2026

For five years a gas company told us what was in Darwin's air.
For five years it was wrong.
Benzene and toluene, under-reported from 2019 to 2024. Now the same big industries want a further 1,500 hectares of our Harbour for more industrial development. We’re calling on the NT Government to protect Darwin Harbour.
Add your name now.
www.topendcoasts.org.au/protect_darwin_harbour_2025

04/08/2026

Thanks Palmerston for an awesome night at Sanctuary Lakes! Together with Palmerston Game Fishing Club Inc. we screened OCEAN with David Attenborough under the stars on Thursday eve.
The film was introduced by Clinton Howe MLA whose speech was interrupted by some excited kids walked across the stage with a 70cm barra caught in the lake!
It was wonderful to gather with roughly 150 community members to support Attenborough’s urgent message on ocean conservation.
Thanks to Matthew Kerle MLA for also coming along.

31/07/2026

31 July - we celebrate World Ranger Day.

Namultja Marra’s new film highlights the critical work of the Marranbala Land and Sea Rangers in protecting Limmen Bight in the NT.

The rangers work with partners to safeguard marine life, manage feral animals and weeds, and monitor the mangroves, seagrass meadows and reefs that keep fish and prawn nurseries healthy, and our dugong and turtle feeding grounds thriving. Patrolling the Territory coast, they are our first line of defence against biosecurity threats, illegal fishing and ghost nets.

Marranbala Rangers protecting Limmen Bight benefits all of us: it drives local jobs and tourism while preserving world-class fishing and natural beauty for locals and visitors alike.

This World Ranger Day, we honour the dedicated Indigenous rangers safeguarding our marine environments. Thank you to all the rangers out there across the Territory coast for your vital work.

28/07/2026

A plastic toothbrush, gently freed from the throat of a tiny seabird by a Territory ranger on a remote Top End beach. One lucky bird.

But our rangers can't pick up an ocean of plastic one beach at a time. The real fix is stopping it at the source. Keep Top End Coasts Healthy is calling on the Federal Government to deliver strong national packaging reform and to support the Global Plastics Treaty, so single use plastic never reaches the water in the first place.

Hats off to these rangers and Country Needs People.