A fatal helicopter crash in the Northern Territory that killed a star of a popular Netflix show has prompted calls from some traditional owners for greater transparency around commercial crocodile egg collection.
'Outback Wrangler' star Chris 'Willow' Wilson, who appeared alongside crocodile wrangler Matt Wright in the hit series, died in the crash in west Arnhem Land in February.
Mr Wright was not in the helicopter at the time of the crash.
Mr Wilson had been helping to collect crocodile eggs for farms growing the hatchlings for the NT's successful crocodile leather industry.
The intense media coverage of the aftermath of the crash has prompted concerns among some Arnhem Land traditional owners about whole crocodile egg harvesting industry in their region.
"If outsiders are going to come in and get the eggs they should come and consult us mob first, or take one of the elders to go to this country [so they can] see how many eggs they collect from this country," west Arnhem traditional owner Eddie Mason said.
"They need to tell us a good story that they're going to pay us back if you are going to come and get eggs in that country."
Traditional owners are paid for allowing private companies access to egg collection areas through land access deals overseen by the Northern Land Council (NLC).
For some the system is lucrative and works well.
But Mr Mason said his family has not received the money they expected.
He said there is not enough transparency about how many eggs companies are collecting and where they are being collected from.
"When they went collecting out there they haven't come back to us," he said.
"My brother is still expecting that money from the crocodile eggs — they told us they were going to give us royalty from that country when they get the crocodile eggs.
"The whole outstation mob, they never got consulted about when they was going to go around and get these crocodile eggs, and tell us how much royalty these people was going to get."
Sub-contracted egg collection muddying the water
West Arnhem mayor Matthew Ryan said he has heard several similar complaints from traditional owners, who feel it is hard to keep track of agreements because of what appear to be sub-leasing agreements to other contractors.
He said he would like the NLC to be more prescriptive about what is allowed under the harvesting agreements.
"This is where the transparency is not open enough with the traditional owners, and this is where it gets sticky in terms of not having the data available to pinpoint which area they've been collecting," he said.
"This certainly raises some concerns for myself and the land owners of that area. The traditional owners should be entitled to know how much [companies] have been collecting within their area or estate."
Mr Ryan said he would like the NLC to be more prescriptive about what is allowed under the harvesting agreements.
Egg collection helping keep crocodile numbers controlled
Private companies involved in the trade do regularly carry out collections alongside Indigenous rangers, including Djelk ranger Greg Wilson in west Arnhem Land.
NT Worksafe has recently banned egg collection from slings, but Mr Wilson said, before that, he often did this work.
"I'd jump in the helicopter and they'd sling me in and then I'd go straight up to a nest, they'd drop me down, and I'd collect eggs real quick, quick, quick," he said.
"I'd carry a stick, a paddle stick, and just go really quiet, not bothering the crocodile."
He said he wants the collections to continue to try to curb crocodile numbers.
"We've been trying to get the numbers down, there's too many crocodile right now, at the boat ramp, everywhere," he said.
Mr Wilson said he worked with Chris Wilson in the past and has been too sad since the crash to go egg collecting.
"I'm really sad, really sad, I lost my good friend Willow," he said.
An NLC spokesperson told the ABC the land council is now "monitoring" a number of the crocodile egg harvesting agreements" but gave no further information.
