For the rangers of the Anindilyakwa Land Council (ALC), cleaning local waters, some of the most picturesque and remote in Australia, is a top priority.
They spend much of their time roaming the Groote archipelago, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, trawling almost a thousand kilometres of coastline, searching for deadly threats to marine wildlife.
Ghost nets — tangles of abandoned or lost fishing gear — are a wicked problem around their home.
The federal government has put forward $14.8 million to help rid these waters of the deadly tracts of netting that can be more than six kilometres long, weigh over 10 tonnes and travel large distances across the sea.
Endangered animals can swim into the nets and become entangled, lacerated and even strangled by them.
"We know we have 250 ghost nets around the archipelago," Tom Lawton, ALC's biosecurity operations coordinator, said.
"Now it's basically getting out there and getting stuck into them, so we can't wait."
ALC ranger Tom Bara said there was a sense of pride in cleaning up the archipelago.
"It's hard work," he said.
"But when it's all over and done with, the enjoyment and the feel of it it feels good.
"Especially knowing that you're taking care of country."
But rangers say there needs to be more awareness of the dangers ghost nets pose, especially in less-populated areas where there is little attention.
"If this was happening down on the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast, and we were having tons and tons of marine debris and ghost nets washing up on the beaches, it would be a much bigger issue," Mr Lawton said.
"But on beaches up here where people don't even step foot on, it's sort of out of sight, out of mind."
Federal funding to address nets
The ALC rangers are now getting a major boost, purchasing a new trawling vessel with $400,000 worth of federal funding.
The boat will be used to clear hard-to-reach beaches in the archipelago, which had previously been inaccessible.
"We can get a four-wheeler on [the boat], and actually be able to get out onto these beaches and clean up marine debris and ghost nets that haven't been tackled before, and in inaccessible areas," Mr Lawton said.
The grant comes as part of the federal government's $14.8 million Ghost Nets Initiative.
It's a cause close to home for the Federal Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour, who represents many residents from Gulf communities.
"It's been a problem for some time," she said.
"It is a biosecurity matter and issue, and we need to make sure that we're funding that accordingly."
Projects funded by the initiative have so far removed 195 ghost nets from the Gulf of Carpentaria, along with 50 tonnes of marine debris, according to the federal government.
But Mr Lawton said further action was needed to prevent nets being discarded in northern waters and travelling into the gulf.
"The focus on diplomatic and working relationships, and working with our neighbours to the north, will be key in managing this issue into the future," he said.
Ms Scrymgour said diplomatic relations with Indonesia and other countries would be handled by her parliamentary colleagues.
"Minister [Murray] Watt, the agriculture minister, and Penny Wong, the foreign minister, can have those diplomatic conversations with Indonesia and other countries to look at how do we all work together to try and deal with this issue," she said.
Drone to combat ghost nets
Advanced mapping technology, developed by Charles Darwin University, could soon be set to assist the ALC rangers.
The Northern Australia Centre for Autonomous Systems (NACAS) has also received a grant from the Ghost Nets Initiative, and will work in tandem with the ALC rangers to combat the ghost nets.
"We've done a number of projects out on Groote Eylandt working with the rangers around environmental issues so we chatted and together came up with this idea," Professor Hamish Campbell, NACAS's director, said.
NACAS specialises in drone surveillance, and will combine drone footage with satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to develop a map to identify and locate ghost nets, which will be fished out by the rangers.
"This program will enable them to strategise clean-up operations," Professor Campbell said.
"The drone will go out, and it will fly around the coastline, surveying nets.
"It will come back, and we'll be able to provide a detailed map to the rangers groups, identifying where all those nets are, what size they are.
"Then they can garner their supplies and operations, and get out there and collect them."
NACAS will travel out to Groote Eylandt in a few weeks time to begin consultation with the rangers.
