Victorian duck hunters save 181 wetlands but conservation work at risk

Duck hunters volunteer thousands of hours into rehabilitating Victoria’s 181 State Game Reserves. But that work could come to an abrupt end if the Andrews Government keeps cutting back the season and bag limits.

Duck hunter and conservationist Peter Gibson overlooks construction of an observation deck he helped build at the Connewarre wetlands near Geelong.

VICTORIAN duck hunters angered by ongoing cuts to their bag limits and season say it is their conservation work of the past 60 years that has saved more than 180 wetlands from being drained and carved up for farming.

Field and Game Australia hunting and conservation manager Glenn Falla said he was sick of a view hunters only “put nesting boxes in (wetlands), so they could shoot the ducks coming out the other end”.

He said many Australians failed to understand Field and Game was formed in 1958 in response to a government report warning the Pacific black duck would become extinct within 10 years if action was not taken to preserve its habitat.

Hunting licences were introduced in 1959, with the £1 fee used to preserve wetlands that were being lost as land was drained for agriculture, leading to the creation of Victoria’s 181 state game reserves, as well as work to rehabilitate wetlands in other states.

Field and Game Australia also raised funds to buy and rehabilitate Gippsland’s 2200ha Heart Morass wetlands and Connewarre system, near Geelong.

One of the latest projects being undertaken by F&G volunteers is construction of a 1.5km Beretta Australia Observation Trail through the Connewarre wetlands, which is a key nursery for waterbirds.

“We have set it up to be wheelchair accessible and only allow limited hunting for disabled, junior and elderly hunters,” Mr Falla said.

In Gippsland, Sale F&G branch member Simon Webster, who helped co-ordinate work on the Heart Morass wetland, said it was no secret the Government wanted to limit opportunities for hunters.

But he warned the community would lose thousands of hours of F&G volunteers’ time in managing game reserves if duck hunting was banned, at a time when an under-resourced government was struggling to manage other public land.

“We’ve got to get better at getting the message out that its hunters who saved these wetlands from being drained and subdivided,” Mr Webster said.

“I was confronted (while hunting in a game reserve) by a couple of bird watchers who demanded to know what I as doing there, so I told them ‘enjoy the place, because I paid for it’.”

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