Duck hunters furious and Gippy businesses hurt

RESIDENTS living close to Andersons Inlet near Venus Bay will not hear the sounds of gun shots this duck hunting season. 

The wetland will be one of 13 areas closed by the government for the hunting season due to an apparent sighting of the critically endangered, Orange-bellied Parrot.

“The stupidity of it is that someone thought they saw a parrot, and now the last sighting of a parrot of that type, the orange-bellied parrot was in Tasmania, so they’re a long way from home,” Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MP, Jeff Bourman said.

The State Government has closed or partially closed the 13 sites in total this season to protect rare, threatened or critically endangered species from being disturbed or mistakenly shot. 

The blue-winged shoveler and hardhead species were recently listed as threatened and are not allowed to be hunted.

Hunters from South Gippsland will be forced to travel over an hour to North or East Gippsland.

“It’s not worth their while anymore,” said Russell from Cargills Sports Store in Wonthaggi who has witnessed a decline in sales for hunting related equipment over the past few years. 

“There’s a few duck hunters around but nowhere near what it used to be.

“We used to sell a lot of ammunition and that kind of thing but not much anymore.” 

The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Ms Bath said duck season injects millions of dollars into the Gippsland economy, but the restrictions are significantly impacting small businesses, who haven’t seen a full duck season since 2018. 

“Many local small businesses rely on the income derived through recreational hunting – our camping and outdoor stores, fuel stores, butchers, bakers all bring thousands of people into our regional areas.

“Forecasting stock requirements are a nightmare for our outdoor recreation stores – stock for hunting and camping must be ordered months in advance.

“Stock ordered in advance will sit on the shelf as a liability – it’s gut wrenching for these businesses as they cannot return stock or repurpose supplies.”

The government has reduced the season to 35 days, with a bag limit of four ducks per day, down from 10 in 2021. 

The bag limit is set to manage the sustainability of duck populations and to ensure that hunting does not threaten the conservation status of any game species. 

Mr Bourman said that closures, bag limits and restrictions were not sitting well with his fellow duck hunters. 

“They are furious, because they to know that it goes against the government’s own advice.” 

“The government was told by its own scientists that it should’ve been four birds a day for a full season, the government has decided that ‘no we won’t do that’.”

The official duck hunting season opened on Wednesday April 26, 2023, and will close after sunset on Tuesday, May 30. 

However, RSPCA Victoria CEO, Dr Liz Walker said she was dismayed by the announcement that the 2023 duck hunting season will proceed, causing injury, pain and suffering to thousands of native ducks.

“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.”

Research cited by the RSPCA shows that 61% of regional Victorians say that they oppose duck hunting in regional Victoria, demonstrating a lack of support for duck hunting from the Victorian community.  

Recent rainfall data from the Bureau of Meteorology highlights that rainfall has decreased by about 10 percent during the key months that would normally supply waterbird habitat (April to October) over the past 22 years and this trend is predicted to continue with six out of eight game duck species showing significant long-term declines in abundance, according to the RSPCA. 

Hunters in Victoria are required to pass a  Waterfowl Identification Test to ensure that game and non-game waterbirds can be adequately identified while in the field and all reasonable efforts must be made to immediately retrieve all downed game ducks and to salvage at least the breast meat from all harvested ducks. 

Research commissioned by the GMA in 2020 relating to hunter knowledge and capability showed that best practice hunting and the current rules are not well understood.  

When asked about dispatching downed ducks, only 13% of respondents answered correctly, when asked about identifying game ducks, only 20% of answered correctly and when asked about minimising wounding, only 37% of respondents answered correctly.

In conjunction with the announcement of the season opening, the government also announced it will be looking into establishing a committee to investigate the social and economic impacts of duck hunting. 

This will include public hearings from hunting associations, animal welfare groups, and regional communities and if a motion is passed to establish the committee a report will be produced by August 2023.