The South East Arnhem Land Indigenous Protected Area is a place of immense beauty. Its three hundred kilometres of coastline sweep across tidal flats, mangrove-lined estuaries, and rolling coastal plains, before rising inland to gorges, billabongs, and rugged sandstone plateaus. It is a place alive with wildlife. Nearly five hundred species of native birds, reptiles, mammals and frogs are known here, including many species that are threatened or migratory. Its sea Country is dotted with islands, cays, and reefs bound by ancient songlines and creation stories. For Traditional Owners, these places are far more than landscapes or seascapes - they are ancestral homelands, spiritual realms, and resting places for the spirits of the Old People. This connection infuses every action of caring for Country with a depth of meaning that is difficult to put into words.

The Northern Land Council manages this enormous protected area, which spans over eighteen thousand square kilometres of Aboriginal freehold land within the Arnhem Land and Urapunga Aboriginal Land Trusts. They also oversee the Yugul Mangi and Numbulwar Numburindi Rangers, two dedicated groups of land and sea custodians who we had the great privilege of working alongside for this journey.

Before we even arrived at our destination, our crew of volunteers from across the country embarked on a three-day journey of more than one thousand kilometres, crossing vast savanna woodlands, rock outcrops, flood plains and winding river systems. Along the way, we passed through some of the most remote communities in the Northern Territory, each with its own culture, history, and living stories.

In Ngukurr, a community of just over one thousand people from twenty-one clans and many different language groups, we stopped at the Yugul Mangi Rangers base. Ngukurr is a vibrant community that still carries the strength of the Yugul Mangi alliance of tribes who banded together in the face of the deadly frontier wars. From there we travelled east to Numbulwar, a community with a deep cultural history and strong ceremonial life that continues to this day. It is home to around eight hundred people from many different clans, including traditional owners from as far as Blue Mud Bay, Groote Eylandt, and Bickerton Island.

Staying with the Rangers, we prepared our vehicles and packed trailers with the gear we would need for nine demanding days in the field. After our clean-up we returned here once more, delivering a bulka bag of ghost nets to Numbulwar Numburindi Arts. The women weavers of Numbulwar are world famous, and to see them transform this deadly waste into powerful art was profoundly moving. To know that some of the nets we hauled from the beaches would be woven into new cultural works gave a sense of hope that waste can be reborn through creativity and resilience.

When we finally arrived at Dharrni and set up camp at the base of Blue Mud Bay, we crossed over the dune to look out across the beach. What we saw stopped us in our tracks. Plastic stretched as far as the eye could see, covering the high tide line in both directions. For many of the volunteers, it was their first time seeing such overwhelming amounts of plastic pollution in such a wild and otherwise pristine place. The shock quickly gave way to determination. Together with the Rangers, we mapped out how to begin Untrashing Dharrni.

Each day began before sunrise. With six vehicles on land and a team using the Ranger boat to reach otherwise inaccessible areas, we set out to remove as much debris as possible. Eight Rangers and eight Sea Shepherd volunteers worked shoulder to shoulder, hauling tonnes of rubbish from the beaches. By late afternoon, when the heat and humidity had sapped every ounce of energy, we would return to camp, weigh the debris, and carefully log a 10 % sample of it before preparing for the next day. The sheer amount of plastic was staggering.

Each day, the Ranger Coordinator and one of the team would make the gruelling six-hour round trip back to Numbulwar with a trailer full of bulka bags, each weighing over one hundred kilograms, just so we would have enough empty bags to keep going.

Among the debris were ghost nets and fishing gear that had been strangling this coastline for decades. Some had been pulled up the beach over two decades ago by Rangers who did not have the vehicles or manpower to remove them completely. Many of these nets had since been reclaimed by the sand, yet they looked almost new, a shocking reminder of how long plastic endures. In some nets we found the remains of turtles that had been trapped and perished long ago, each discovery deeply affecting those who found them.

The volume of nets in this region was the highest we have seen yet, with many tangled around and strangling the Casuarinas (whistling trees), which provide vital shade along the beaches.

But amid the heartbreak, there was also hope. We saw turtle tracks winding up the beaches in areas where the sand was less choked by plastic, a sign that these ancient mariners were still coming ashore to nest. We spotted dugongs grazing offshore, sharks gliding past, crocodiles basking in the sun, and birds flying above us. We were honoured to hear stories from Rangers about the dreaming that shaped these lands and waters, about their families growing up on this Country, and about the old people who once cared for the very same places we were now helping to restore.

By the end of our time at Dharrni, we had removed more than ten tonnes of plastic debris from twenty kilometres of coastline. This included over three tonnes of ghost gear and approximately eighty-eight thousand individual pieces of plastic, most commonly bottles, fragments of hard plastic, polystyrene, personal care containers, and discarded thongs. The scale of the achievement was immense. For the Rangers, who normally patrol and care for more than three hundred kilometres of coastline with just six people, our volunteers’ support made a tremendous difference.

At the close of the remote, we returned to Numbulwar, where we hosted a free community screening of David Attenborough’s new film “Ocean.” More than forty people gathered for the event, sharing in the message of ocean conservation that had guided our entire journey.

Senior Ranger Joanne Pomery spoke powerfully about the deeper meaning of this work. “Seeing this plastic rubbish and nets wash up on my mother’s Country hurts my spirit. It does not belong here. This Sea Country and the animals that live in it tells important stories about our culture. But our songlines do not talk about rubbish. This is not something we want to pass down to our kids and grandkids.”

Her words are a reminder that this is about far more than removing waste. It is about protecting culture, wildlife, and stories that stretch back to the beginning of time. It is about ensuring that future generations inherit clean, living coastlines, not beaches choked by plastic.

The urgency to address this growing crisis is undeniable, yet Indigenous ranger groups such as the Yugul Mangi and Numbulwar Numburindi Rangers receive only limited funding to carry out this demanding and labour-intensive work.

For the past four years, the federally funded fifteen-million-dollar Ghost Net Initiative has supported twenty-two Indigenous ranger groups in their clean-up efforts. However, this critical program is now set to end, with no guarantee that funding will be renewed.

Earlier this year it was also revealed that the Northern Territory Government has cut the twelve-million-dollar Aboriginal Ranger Grant program from its budget. This program has been a vital source of funding for the equipment and infrastructure that ranger groups need to continue protecting both country and culture.

We are deeply grateful to the Traditional Owners for granting us access to their land and sea Country, and to the Northern Land Council for supporting this clean-up. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Yugul Mangi and Numbulwar Numburindi Rangers for their generosity, strength, and guidance, and to every Sea Shepherd supporter and donor whose contributions make these remotes possible. Without you, this work could not continue.

Together, we are making a difference one beach, one ghost net, one piece of plastic and one community at a time.