Duck Hunting Season Given Green Light in Southern Australia Despite Calls for Ban

Ducks at a press conference held by Opposition Leader, John Robertson in Sydney, Jun. 1, 2012. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)

Recreational duck hunting season will go ahead in the southern Australian state of Victoria despite repeated calls for it to be banned.

Victoria’s Game Management Authority (GMA) confirmed on Feb. 24 the 2023 duck hunting season arrangements.

The 2023 duck hunting season will be from April 26 to May 30, with a limit of four birds a day and a time restriction to only hunt ducks between the hours of 8 a.m. and 30 minutes after sunset each day.

Hunters will also be prohibited from hunting the protected Blue-winged Shoveler, and Hardhead species, as both were recently listed as threatened under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.

The state government also announced it would examine recreational native bird hunting in the state.

Each year Victoria duck hunters are only allowed to hunt during a specific timeframe set by the state government, which varies from year to year.

Recreational duck hunting is only permitted in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. But New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia have banned recreational duck hunting for over 30 years.

Victorian Greens spokeswoman Katherine Copsey accused the state government of caving under pressure from the shooting lobby groups and proceeding with the hunting season,  reported The Age.

“We know Victoria is in the midst of an extinction crisis, and we know thousands of waterbirds are already under extreme stress,” Copsey said.

“So to green light this year’s season and send countless more ducks to slaughter for sport is nothing short of inhumane.”

RSPCA and Shooters Disappointed

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Victoria was disappointed with the final decision.

This is despite the state government modifying the rules around the season to incorporate a more “precautionary approach“ to the rates of duck wounding, poor hunter behaviour, and the fact that” waterbird abundance, breeding and habitat availability, all show long-term declines.”

“Regardless of the reduced season length, based on a 35-day hunting season, approximately 87,000 birds will be killed during the 2023 Victorian duck hunting season and up to 35,000 wounded and left to die,” said RSPCA Victoria CEO Liz Walker in a media release.

“Today’s decision does not reflect the evidence that supports a ban on the activity, as calls for a duck hunting ban in Victoria grow louder due to animal welfare concerns and species abundance declines.

“Research indicates that two in three Victorians (66 percent) oppose it; therefore, we are surprised to hear of the government’s decision to proceed with a season and urge them to reconsider the decision based on the very clear evidence.”

Meanwhile, the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) Victoria and the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party (SFFP) expressed their dismay with the outcome.

SFFP Geelong Branch Chairman Ben Collyer said in a press release the current conditions are one of the best seen in 30 years by Victorian duck hunters.

“For the interim harvest model to be modified flies in the face of the AHM (Adaptive Harvest Management) undertaking and proves that this year’s arrangements are purely political in nature,” they said.

The Legislative Council committee will hold public hearings from hunting associations, animal welfare groups and regional communities and look at arrangements in other states and the impact on sustainability.

SSAA Victoria’s hunting development manager David Laird criticised the government’s announcement of a committee to examine native bird hunting, “the South Australian Government took a similar proposal to their recent State Election.”

“It looks both timid and tricky for the Victorian Government to have not done the same,” Laird added.

The government will establish the committee during the next sitting week in March, followed by a final report by Aug. 31.

Requirements for All Game Hunters

Other than holding a Victorian Game License to permit anyone to hunt game, hunters must also pass the Waterfowl Identification Test. In addition, children under 12 years of age are not permitted to hunt.

The Waterfowl Identification Test ensures duck hunters can demonstrate adequate identification skills to differentiate between game and non-game waterbirds based on videos of waterfowl in flight.

Victoria’s Andy Meddick from the Animal Justice Party told Ross and Russel on the 3AW Breakfast radio show on Jan. 23 how difficult the test is for duck hunters to pass.

“[T]hese shooters are asked to pass a test that requires them to identify shadows of birds; you think about it, you’re trying to hit a moving target at dawn and dusk of a shadow flying across the sky,” he said.

“Most hunters actually fail that test, and they also every single year kill or seriously maim endangered species, they cannot identify them, it is impossible.”

The Duck Hunting Season 2023 report (pdf) by RSPCA Victoria, commissioned by the GMA, shows that the wounding rate for ducks could be between six to 40 per cent.

Using the reported 2022 season total harvest figures of 262,567 ducks, this would equal between 15,700 and 105,000 ducks being wounded and not killed outright.

The RSPCA Victoria submission also estimates that only 11,549 hunters hunted in 2022, meaning only 0.17 percent of the Victorian population actively participates in duck hunting, which they argues demonstrates a ban on this recreation will have a negligible impact on the economy due to the minimum participation rate.

GMA Research relating to hunter knowledge and capability in the 2020 season showed that the best practice hunting and rules are not well understood. For example, only 20 percent were able to identify game ducks, and only 37 percent answered correctly when asked about minimising wounds.

“We look forward to participating in a review and remain hopeful the government will ban duck hunting once and for all,” Walker said.

The Epoch Times has reached out to RSPCA Victoria for comment.