Crocodiles

Products: Skins and meat

Synopsis – Australian Industry

Australia has 14 commercial crocodile farms: across the Northern Territory (5 farms), Queensland (6 farms) and Western Australia [3 farms involving both freshwater (Crocodylus johnstoni) and saltwater (Crocodylus porosus) crocodiles]. Crocodile farming involves captive breeding supplemented by regulated sustainable harvesting of eggs and juveniles from the wild in NT and WA.  Farmed crocodiles are harvested when their belly skin measures at least 35 centimetres;   this takes from 18 months to 3 years.

The total value of Australian crocodile product exports in 2006-07 was $9 million, 98 per cent of which was related to skins.  Over the three years to 2006-07, the main export markets for Australia’s crocodile skins were France (58 per cent), Italy (18 per cent), Singapore (15 per cent) and Japan (7 per cent). The main export markets for Australian crocodile meat were Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Background

Skins are the main product from crocodiles, with meat an increasingly valuable co-product. There are also by-products of feet, teeth and skulls.  In Australia, tourism is an important activity for some crocodile enterprises, in 2001 accounting for an estimated 30 per cent of total revenue of these enterprises. Because of its attractive appearance, suppleness and durability, skin from crocodiles is a premium leather used in fashion accessories (shoes, belts, handbags), wallets and luggage. Crocodile meat is a succulent white meat that is low in fat and high in protein.

Worldwide in the three years to 2005, an average of 1.4 million caimans, crocodiles and alligators were harvested annually. Caiman species that are native to South America made up slightly more than half of the total harvest.  Colombia accounted for 42 per cent of the total harvest, the United States 26 per cent, Cambodia 6 per cent and Zimbabwe 5 per cent. Australian production represented slightly more than 1 per cent of the world total.

Trade in crocodiles and alligators is subject to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to which Australia is a signatory, along with around 150 other countries. The protected species status of crocodiles means that permits are required in Australia for crocodile products exported to, or imported from, overseas. Permits are issued by the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

Links

• Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines, Northern Territory (www.nt.gov.au/dpifm/Primary_Industry/index.cfm)  provides a range of information about crocodile farming in the Northern Territory.
• FAO’s online database (www.faostat.fao.org)  provides data by country for crocodile and alligator production.