On target for a 2021 duck hunting season with bird numbers up
After three years of drought, recent rain and floods across the Murray Darling Basin have lifted hunters’ hopes of returning to Victorian wetlands to harvest ducks in March.
DUCK hunters’ hopes of a decent 2021 season have been revived by the floodwater covering large parts of the Murray Darling Basin’s wetlands after three years of drought, just as the RSPCA launches a campaign to ban the tradition in Victoria.
University of NSW ecologists undertaking the annual aerial Eastern Australian waterbird survey have reported large numbers of ducks across some of the basin’s major wetlands.
Professor Richard Kingsford and his team of observers reported “thousands of waterbirds” on the Cuttaburra Channel network and overflow lakes, which are fed by the Warrego and Paroo Rivers
“Spectacular stuff and great to see after so many dry years,” the team reported.
Further north on Queensland’s Currawinya Lakes the observers saw “thousands of birds on the salt lake and only hundreds on the freshwater lake”.
On the Macquarie Marshes “there were lots of straw-necked ibis, Pacific herons, egrets, and glossy ibis as well as hundreds of grey teal and other ducks”.
But while the early survey results hold the promise of a possible return to duck hunting in March, duck hunters face a major challenge as the RSPCA launches a campaign next week to create a pool of Victorians who are passionate about protecting ducks.
The RSPCA campaign material states it is running its Discover Ducks campaign in partnership with BirdLife Australia, in a bid to:
MOVE Victorians from a passive interest to an active like and passion for ducks by October 2021.
GET more than 5000 duck lovers into regional Victoria.
INCREASE Victorians’ willingness and drive to help protect native ducks.
To date the Andrews Government has kept hunters’ hopes alive of maintaining their tradition, with Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio telling The Weekly Times last December “The Government won’t be banning duck hunting.”
Field and Game Australia chief executive Dean O’Hara said the campaign was obviously all about trying to get the Labor Party to ban duck hunting, in the lead-up to the 2022 state election. “But it’s never going to happen,” he said.
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