Fish River Fire Project

Fish River Fire Project is a Savanna Fire Management project located at Fish River Station, approximately 50km south of Daly River (Nauiyu) and 150km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. It was registered in October 2012 and covers 178,083.49 hectares.

Savanna Fire Management projects involve strategic and planned burning of savanna areas in high rainfall zones during the early dry season. This standard methodology safely reduces the accumulation of flammable ground fuel, which lowers the risk, intensity, and frequency of massive, unmanaged late dry season wildfires, thereby reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The Daly River region is known predominantly for pastoralism, with beef cattle grazing making up over half of the land use, alongside significant protected conservation areas. The region is classified as a high rainfall tropical savanna with highly distinct wet and dry seasons. Soils in the basin generally consist of deep, earthy red Kandosols, iron-rich Ferrosols, and cracking clay Vertosols found near the river floodplains.

This project was a landmark initiative, serving as the first Indigenous early dry season savanna burning project to earn carbon credits under the Carbon Farming Initiative, and the first of its kind to sell Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to a corporate buyer. The Fish River property was jointly purchased in 2011 by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) in partnership with the Australian Government and non-profit conservation groups. The project actively employs Aboriginal rangers and traditional owners to conduct the fire management programs. This work simultaneously protects vital biodiversity in the area, including the threatened northern quoll, Gouldian finch, and the culturally significant pig-nosed turtle. Additionally, the project completed its initial carbon abatement contract in May 2020 and transitioned to being solely overseen by the ILSC after previously partnering with Corporate Carbon Solutions Pty Ltd.