Duck hunters shut-out of Green Swamp in the Western District

A wetland in the Western District will be closed to duck hunters this season. Full details here.

Green Swamp will be closed to hunters for the rest of the season. Picture: File

The Victorian Government has announced Green Swamp, near Glenthompson in the Western District, will be closed to duck hunting for the remainder of the season.

The Game Management Authority said in a statement on the weekend that the wetland would be closed to protect the Brolga — a threatened species in Victoria.

The statement said, “waterbird surveys conducted in May 2021 located 98 Brolga at Green Swamp”.

“Brolga are currently “flocking” at the wetland. Flocking is an important pre-breeding behaviour for the Brolga and is displayed before they form breeding pairs,” the GMA statement said.

“Any disturbance during this sensitive period could impact the Brolga’s ability to

breed successfully.

“Signage has been installed at Green Swamp to alert hunters to the closure”.

The authority said wetlands may be closed to duck hunting for a number of reasons, including to protect rare and threatened waterbirds from being shot or to avoid disturbance to colonially breeding, migratory or susceptible species.

It comes as The Weekly Times recently reported the Government had ignored research from the Arthur Rylah Institute which recommended extending the 20-day season for 2021 to 75 days.

At the time, Field and Game Australia executive director Dean O’Hara told The Weekly Times duck hunters had been concerned for many years that decisions made were political and in support of the anti-duck hunting lobby.

The last full duck hunting season was in 2018, which ran for 87 days from March 17 to June 11.

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