YALANGBARRA, Australia — As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness spread across the vast Northern Territory sky, the men and women scanned the terrain one last time for potential prey.

It was dinnertime for the Dhimurru Rangers, a group of mostly Indigenous Australians who had spent a long day cleaning up the polluted beaches of the continent’s northern coast. Soon they would be eating freshly caught fish and seafood cooked under the stars on an open fire, as their ancestors did.

For thousands of years, the Yolngu Aboriginal people have lived in this part of Australia, hunting in its forests and fishing in its waters.