Polar bears and crocodiles at first glance may not seem to have much in common, but a Northern Territory politician says they both provide trophy hunting options for Indigenous people and are a sustainable way to make a living.

During parliamentary estimates hearings in Darwin on Tuesday, independent Member for Nelson Gerry Wood pointed to the viral video released last week of a huge number of crocodiles sunbathing on the banks of the Daly River.

"I think people are concerned about the numbers and whether that can have a balance between people's safety and preserving crocodiles, I'm not after the pre-1970s [number of crocs]," he said.

Sorry, this video has expired Crocodiles on the Daly River ( Supplied: Wade Kelly )

"But I still think, having travelled to Canada and seen the sustainable harvest of polar bears, which might scare people, that is done with the traditional owners and science and gives people work, and employment, and gives them an economic livelihood.

"I wonder if we should do more work in that field for our traditional owners, especially in areas where employment is low and there's not much other opportunity for economic development."

However, Dr Alaric Fisher, assisting Environment Minister Lauren Moss, said that was not a financially viable option.

"One of the issues with that idea, unfortunately, is that crocodiles harvested from the wild are not worth very much money, simply because the skin quality now doesn't compete with redskins, and the costs involved in transport from large distances mean the value is very low," he said.

"It's actually quite hard to set up a significant industry based on the harvest of wild crocodiles."

Politically in the NT, allowing traditional owners to run safari hunting of crocodiles on Aboriginal land has bipartisan support, with both the Labor Government and Country Liberals Party senator for the NT Nigel Scullion on board.

However, the Federal Government vetoed the plan and crocodile safari hunting remains banned in Australia.

Concern croc numbers are climbing: Wood

The current five-year crocodile management plan allows for the harvesting of up to 1,200 large animals and 90,000 viable eggs from the wild to support the NT's crocodile farming industry, which is worth about $100 million per year.

There are currently thought to be up to 100,000 wild crocodiles in the Top End, the number of which has rebounded significantly since hunting up until the early 1970s reduced numbers so much they became a protected species.

"There is a general concern the numbers are increasing … do cull numbers go up proportionally with the increase in the population of crocodiles?" Mr Wood asked Ms Moss.

Dr Fisher said that the most recent crocodile management plan increased the number of animals that could be harvested by 40 per cent.

"If that total number was actually taken that would be about 10 per cent of the large crocodile population in the Territory, but people don't apply for that, they only apply for something like half the number that's available for permit," he said.