Geelong Duck Rescue (GDR) has called for the state government to put an end to annual duck hunting seasons as Agriculture Minister Gayle Tierney weighs on the 2023 duck season.
Victorian’s duck season for 2023 is regulated to begin on Saturday, March 18, but GDR has put out calls for the minister to scrap the season altogether due to an ongoing decline in duck populations and the “lack of social licence” for the activity.
GDR chair and long-term wildlife rescuer Natalie Kopas said duck hunting in the Lake Connewarre state game reserve, which encompasses Reedy Lake, Hospital Swamp and Lake Connewarre itself, posed a threat to the sustainability of the local duck populations.
“With continued threats from climate change and the ongoing decline in waterbird numbers, it is just madness to add yet another threat to ducks in the name of a recreational pursuit,” Ms Kopas said.
“This isn’t sustainability. It’s brutality.”
She described duck hunting as an “outdated activity”.
“The majority of Victorians are not duck shooters; there are 26,000 and less than half of those are active.
“We’re killing our native wildlife, just to satisfy a handful of duck shooters.”
Trent Leen, who currently serves as conservation officer for Geelong Field and Game, is on the board of Field and Game Australia and is a strategic planner for the wetland environmental taskforce, said the evidence didn’t support GDR’s claims.
“Habitat loss is the biggest factor we have with the sustainability of our waterfowl,” Mr Leen said.
“Even Richard Kingsford, who does the Eastern Australian Waterbird Aerial Survey stated that the harvesting from duck hunting has no effect on the sustainability of waterfowl. Our harvest is insignificant compared to the actual total population.
“Duck hunting’s been banned in New South Wales for many years, and if you have a look at the data their populations are still in decline, because the habitat’s the most important factor.”
Mr Leen pointed out that the conservation work done by Field and Game, which was founded to ensure the sustainability of duck populations, had a far more positive impact than hunting had a negative one.
“The duck season’s only three months of the year, but we’re out there for the rest of the year doing conservation projects,” he said.
“We put a higher value on ducks than anybody else. For that reason, we’re out there working and rehabilitating wetlands to ensure that commodity stays sustainable and flourishes.”
