Shooting crocodiles on safaris could help Indigenous communities: Traditional owner

Mr Lyall said crocodile culling and safaris could help combat unemployment while reducing croc numbers, saying he would not allow his children to swim in the same rivers he once took a dip in due to an increase in crocs.

"It could be another job opportunity for us," he said.

"It kills two birds with the one stone - making the rivers safe for everybody and we're also creating some employment opportunities for the mob."

Cape York has an unemployment rate of 12.6 per cent, according to the 2011 Census.

Mr Lyall said he believed the crocodile safaris would be worth a lot of money.

"I think there's some big safari hunters out there who would pay a good amount of money to go out and hunt and take a trophy home," he said.

Mr Lyall said Indigenous people had been hunting crocodiles since "day one" after arriving in Australia.

"It's only been restricted and impacted on by today's society, the government and environmentalists," he said.

"I want to look after the environment too but there's got to be a bit more equal balance too."

Mr Lyall said it was unlikely allowing hunting would lead to the extinction of Queensland's crocodiles.

"Crocodiles have come back with a vengeance, they're everywhere," he said.

"It's the oldest living dinosaur that fella, he's been around forever. It'd take a lot of hunting and a lot of people to wipe them off planet Earth, or off our country anyway."

But Mr Lyall said that would not be the intention of Indigenous or non-Indigenous people.

"Our main concern is to take the problem crocodiles out of the scene and make the creeks and rivers safe again," he said.

"It's not going to be going out and shooting everything that wriggles in the water - we'd go out and identify certain animals for culling."

Crocodiles have been protected since 1974 and the Palaszczuk government does not support culling.

Environment Minister Steven Miles said a cull was not a solution to the risks posed by crocodiles.

"It would give the public a false sense of safety, leading to complacency and an increased risk of attacks," Dr Miles said.

"Even when crocodiles were almost hunted to extinction, crocodile attacks still occurred."

Dr Miles said decisions needed to be based on science.

"The science tells us that in crocodile country, the best way to manage public safety is through proactive removals of large and dangerous crocodiles - and that's what we are doing."

Dr Miles said targeted crocodile operations had doubled under the Palaszczuk government, there were 10 extra specially trained wildlife officers in north Queensland and two in central Queensland.

The government has provided $5.8 million over the next three years for crocodile management, including a comprehensive study of population and movement, which is due to begin in the next few weeks.

The LNP's croc policy, announced in November, involves proactively removing the animals and relocating them to national parks, wildlife reserves or registered crocodile farms.

Mr Katter, federal member for Kennedy Bob Katter and Mr Knuth are meeting residents in Mareeba, Innisfail and Port Douglas this week on a consultation tour about their crocodile culling, safari shooting and egg harvesting legislation.

The proposed legislation comes after a pet dog was taken by a croc at Belvedere, north of Innisfail, a spear fisherman was killed on the Russell River and a teenager was attacked after jumping into croc-infested waters.