POTENTIALLY thousands of extra American sailors and Marines will flood through the Darwin port in coming years with a US General confirming a greater military presence in the South Pacific.

The head of US Marine Corps Force Command, Lieutenant General John Wissler, said the Pentagon planned to dispatch another three-ship amphibious ready group to the Asia-Pacific region as early as October 2018.

The Marine Corps Times reported that the ships would likely carry an embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).

That would see an extra 4000 sailors and Marines in the region.

Lt-Gen Wissler said the goal of the MEU was to augment the number of Marines already coming to the Top End as part of the annual six-month Marine Rotational Force Darwin deployment.

This year, about 1250 Marine are deployed to Darwin, based mostly at Robertson Barracks about 20km from the Darwin CBD.

US and Australian officials hope to boost that number to 2500 by 2020.

“The actual basing (of the extra Marines and sailors) ... and all of those significant details are being worked out,” Lt-Gen Wissler said.

“That’s why it’s a (fiscal) 2019 problem because, as you can imagine, it’s a very complex undertaking.”

The Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit presently conducts two 90-day patrols in the Pacific each year — one in spring and another in autumn — and respond to humanitarian crises in the region throughout the year.

Lt-Gen Wissler said the new arrangement would allow that unit to focus on north eastern Asia while the new ARG/MEU conducted two 90-day patrols in the South Pacific.

He said the Marine Corps has not determined whether the new MEU will come from the continental US, Hawaii or Japan.

Lieutenant Commander Matt Knight from the US Pacific Fleet said it is too soon to say which ships may be assigned to the MEU in fiscal 2019.

Former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jon Greenert said the amphibious assault ship America was a “prime candidate” to visit Australia as part of such a group.

“They will go into Darwin … and conduct on-load and off-load,” he told Navy Times in March 2015.

He said while the Marines trained in the Top End of Australia, the ships in the ARG could operate and hold exercises in South East Asia.

The U.S. and Australia have pushed back plans for the deployment of a 2,500-strong Marine Air Ground Task Force to Australia's Northern Territory until 2020 as they nail down the final details, including cost-sharing, Australian officials say.

The Marine Corps started building its presence in the port of Darwin in 2012 and grew its rotational force, which spends six months of the year training there, to just under 1,200 troops by 2014.

However, the growth of the force, which was to have included the task force within five years, has stalled with U.S. and Australian officials reporting only 1,250 Marines there this summer.

Australian Defence Force officials said in an email that they would work toward rotations of 2,500 Marines and equipment to Darwin by around 2020.

Australian national security consultant Ross Babbage said the two countries have been negotiating for three years over who would pay costs associated with the rotational force.

"There is no space on RAAF Darwin and Robertson Barracks (the facilities where Marines stay in Darwin) to facilitate that kind of growth (up to 2,500 Marines)"

PLANS to deploy additional Marines to the Top End continue to be delayed while Australia and the US figure out the final details.

The original plan was to have a 2500-strong Marine Air Ground Task Force in the Territory until 2020. However, issues such as cost-sharing have caused delays in the number of Marines who can be stationed in the Top End.

The NT News reported in April that one of the problems was which country would pay for the toilets, as well as other housing and utilities, including power and sewerage. It appears these negotiations are still continuing, with only 1250 Marines here this dry season.

US military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported Australian Defence Force officials said in an email the next rotation was still unclear.

The political situation in the US could also be playing a part in the delays, after Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump argued countries with a US military presence should be paying the United States.

A Larrakia man says Aboriginal people have been fishing in Darwin's Rapid Creek unaware there were concerns about contamination.

The Northern Territory Health Department yesterday issued a warning advising people not to eat fish or crabs caught in Rapid or Ludmilla Creeks.

It came weeks after tests by the NT Environment Protection Authority confirmed the presence of the perflourinate chemicals historically used in fire-fighting foam at Defence bases around the country.

"It's a bit of a problem when you hear that there's poison, potential poison coming down from the airport," said local resident and Larrakia man Keith Risk.

A Senate inquiry recommended blood tests for workers on Defence bases and residents potentially affected by contamination.

A Marine three-star general pulled a Hawaii-based helicopter squadron from a spring deployment after two of its aircraft crashed off Oahu's coast in January, killing a dozen Marines.

Lt. Gen. John Toolan, the head of Marine Corps Forces Pacific, declined to send CH-53E Super Stallions from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 to Australia's Northern Territory as part of Marine Rotational Force–Darwin, said 1st Lt. Joseph Butterfield, a spokesman for 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.

HMH-463 was one of two Hawaii-based helo squadrons slated to send detachments to Australia for six months starting in April. Toolan decided to keep HMH-463 at home and send more helicopters from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 instead, Butterfield said.

The commanding officer of HMH-463 was fired three days before the Jan. 14 crash after senior officials determined he had failed to keep the unit operating at acceptable standards. The investigation into the accident remains under investigation.

Before the deadly crash, Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 was one of two squadrons that were slated to take part in the latest rotation of rotation of Marine Rotational Force–Darwin. Currently, four UH-1Y Venom helicopters from HMLA-367 are supporting the Marines in Darwin, he said. Last year, four CH-53Es from HMH-463 took part in the rotation. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser first reported on Toolan's decision last month.