SSAA Victoria expects the 2016 Duck Hunting Season to be announced in a matter of days. In its December submission to Game Management Authority, the Association supported a 2016 season. This is in line with the Wildlife (Game) Regulations 2012, which call for an annual duck season and a ten-bird bag limit.
The 2015 season – announced by Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford on January 14, 2015 – saw a reduced bag limit due to lower bird numbers and waterfowl habitats. The 2015 season opened on March 21, with a bag limit of 10 on day one and five per day thereafter.
With average rainfall expected for most of the state and above average rainfall in the south-west, SSAA Victoria sees no reason to reduce the length or bag limit for the 2016 season.
“The State’s game ducks have shown throughout history that they are highly resilient to harvesting and have strong powers of recovery in response to harvesting and optimal environmental conditions,” SSAA Victoria Chief Executive Officer Jack Wegman said. “Evidence proves that the conservation of game ducks is not jeopardised by regulated duck hunting.”
SSAA Victoria’s recommendation was in line with that of Field and Game Australia, which disputed any alteration to bag limits. It said that reductions in bag limits due to weather extremes, “only serve to complicate the collection of data and evidence necessary for good game management practices”.
“The long-term sustainability of hunting is demonstrated through time, with waterfowl populations sustained despite intensive market hunting for almost two centuries,” FGA said. “(This is) despite environmental conditions that can fluctuate widely over the long term between extremes of flood to drought.”
With the duck hunting season announcement looming, anti-hunting activists have launched ruthless campaigns against the season. The RSPCA called for people to end the “bloodbath”. The campaign claimed that one in every four waterbirds shot “will suffer a slow and agonising death”. “Instead of abolishing this barbaric activity, the government has invested millions of taxpayers’ dollars into it,” the RSPCA said.
Federal Member for Wills Kelvin Thomson wrote a letter to the State Government calling for an end to the “animal cruelty”. “Give the ducks and waterbirds a chance to get through what is a particularly tough year in our wetlands, without the pressure of being shot at,” he said.
But sensible Ovens Valley MP Tim McCurdy, supported the 2016 duck season as an economic driver for the northern region. “There is no reason why there should not be a full duck season this year,” he said. “Duck hunting is a legitimate, recreational activity in Victoria. A sustainable, well-regulated duck season is great for Ovens Valley.”
Hunting is worth $439 million to the Victorian economy and brings thousands of tourists to the state each year.