By (A)manda Parkinson in Darwin

As Australians count down to the new year, a different count has clicked over in the Northern Territory. 

Park rangers have removed 265 crocodiles from territory’s waterways in 2024, a slight decrease from 272 in 2023.

However, the locations of the crocodiles over the past year has raised concerns about where the apex predator is being found.

Increased efforts have resulted in a three-fold increase in the number of crocodiles removed near popular swimming holes at Litchfield National Park after a tourist was bitten at Wangi Falls in 2023.

The NT government’s annual croc count shows 21 of the reptiles were removed from the park in 2024, compared with seven in 2023.

Top End Parks district manager Andrew Turner said crocodiles were very territorial animals.

“The reason they would be in a plunge pool… is because of the fish and food source that is available,” he told the ABC.

He said a 3.65m-crocodile had been removed from a swimming hole in Litchfield earlier in 2024, along with two others that were almost three-metres long.

The NT government has managed crocodile culling since 1971 after the reptile was almost wiped out by local hunting.

The species has since boomed from about 3000 animals to an estimated population of more than 100,000 in the territory.

Figures show the population continues to thrive across the Australia’s north, with Queensland and the Northern Territory both considering boosting culling legislation in 2024.

The NT government has released a new 10-year plan to reduce the animal’s population, including increasing the number of eggs collected and crocodiles removed from the wild.

In recent months, saltwater crocodiles were sighted further south on the West Australian and east coasts than normal, with one caught on drone footage at WA’s Ningaloo Reef at Exmouth.

In August, Queensland’s government withdrew plans to introduce a new Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill after widespread backlash.

According to data from the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation there were 1216 saltwater or estuarine crocodile sightings reported in 2023, beating the previous high of 1185 set in 2021.

An explanation paper accompanying the bill said the numbers were a significant increase on a decade ago, when 336 sightings were reported.

The plan looked to NT’s egg collection program, which removes up to 90,000 eggs from nests annually compared with 5000 in Queensland.

“The increase in crocodile numbers not only endangers human lives, it adversely and significantly affects the way North Queenslanders live,” the report stated.