Keep Top End Coasts Healthy (KTECH) has developed a submission to the Northern Territory Parks Masterplan 2022-52 Consultation Paper.

Community come together for Top End sharks following devastating report on plight of the species.Friday 10th September 2021 The Top End’s unique position as a global “lifeboat” for some of the world’s most endangered sharks and rays fighting extinction will come under the spotlight at a special event in Darwin on Friday 10 September. Special guests Dr Peter Kyne from Charles Darwin University, Australian Marine Conservation Society shark scientist Dr Leonardo Guida and Mitch Hart from Pew Charitable Trusts, will all be giving first hand accounts of the Northern Territory's shark and sawfish species and the threats they face before a screening of Valerie Taylor - Playing With Sharks at Deckchair Cinema. The Keep Top End Coasts Healthy (KTECH) event is timed just days after the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revealed that 37.5% of the world's sharks and rays are at risk of extinction, up from 24% in 2014.  Although there are still threats and challenges in Australia, our country - and particularly the Top End with its intact coastline - is still considered a lifeboat for many species, including critically endangered sawfish and endangered river sharks. Dr Guida said: “One third of the world's sharks and rays are threatened with extinction & northern Australia is the last stronghold for species like sawfish, illustrating the urgency of strengthening protections and recovery plans for this species in national environment laws and in fishing rules. “We want to keep Top End coasts and rivers healthy for all to enjoy, and this includes the marine wildlife which help to keep it that way, and which are such a source of pride for Territorians.” At the event, Dr Kyne will explain more about his collaboration with the Malak Malak Rangers who annually undertake patrol and rescue operations to transfer trapped juvenile largetooth sawfish from shrinking billabongs and into the Daly river. Mr Hart will speak about how big cotton players are pushing to take billions of litres of water from NT floodplains, threatening rivers and their wildlife including sawfish species. The Valerie Taylor - Playing With Sharks documentary profiles the passionate conservationist, who has been putting herself on the front line for sharks for over 70 years. Doors open at 6pm, with speakers and the screening of a local short film at 6.40pm and the feature film beginning at 7pm. Event details are available here. The event is hosted by Keep Top End Coasts Healthy.

Keep Top End Coasts Healthy (KTECH) has done a submission to the Senate Inquiry into oil and gas in the Beetaloo Basin. 

Today we submit our own comments on the draft declaration to prohibit subsea mining in the NT, along with 271 Territorians who signed our petition in support of the ban. We commend the Gunner Government for listening to the evidence, and the people of the Northern Territory.

Today’s announcement for an NT Parks Masterplan has been welcomed by The Keep Top End Coasts Healthy Alliance as it provides an opportunity to turn the Territory into a leader on coasts. There is much greater potential to grow the Northern Territory’s marine and coastal tourism economy, and parks and reserves can play a key role. 

Keep Top End Coasts Healthy and the Environment Centre NT urge the Planning Commission and the Northern Territory Government to consider our recommendations and create a new vision for the Gunn Point Peninsula, taking advantage of the significant cultural and environmental values of the region.

Keep Top End Coasts Healthy welcomes the Northern Territory Government's announcement to ban seabed mining in the NT. 

We sat down with Shane Smith to chat to him about his passion for plastic pollution and how it has motivated him to create art and volunteer with Keep Top End Coasts Healthy. 

Keep Top End Coasts Healthy has today expressed concern over the failed prosecution of the owners and masters of a cargo ship following a major oil spill in Darwin Harbour on 19 August 2016. The NT environment Protection Agency has failed to prosecute and today, Local Court Judge John Neill dismissed the case. 

A significant milestone is approaching – on 5 March 2021 the NT Government will decide on whether to extend or lift the Moratorium on seabed mining, or to ban it permanently in the Top End.  Seabed mining, if allowed, would devastate the Top End’s unique coasts and seas, culture, livelihoods and fishing lifestyle.