Duck hunting in Victoria - Presentation to GMA - December 2018 - Game ...
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Duck hunting in Victoria Presentation to GMA – December 2018
Animals Australia: policy on recreational duck shooting –
it causes unnecessary suffering and so is opposed.
Who are we? Our Vision Our Beliefs
Animals Australia is A world where all animals We believe that we can
Australia’s foremost animal are treated with compassion create a kinder world for all
protection organisation, and respect and are free by promoting respect for
representing some 30 from cruelty. animals and that our
member societies and treatment of animals reflects
thousands of individual who we are as individuals
supporters. and as a society.
Environmental considerations: 2019 duck shooting season GMA Act s5 – Objective: To promote sustainability in game hunting No legal definition of ‘sustainability’ so the common understanding should be applied ie: • SUSTAINABILITY = preservation of natural environment GMA has not acted to promote sustainability Game duck populations have crashed over 36 years of scientific consistent monitoring
Average total abundance - first 18 years (1983-2000): 268,000
Average total abundance - last 18 years (2001-2018): 156,000
A 42% decrease between these averages.
The long-term average for the entire period keeps shrinking.
1200000
1000000 y = -7836.4x + 2E+07
EAAWS:
Statistically significant
800000
DECLINE of total
game birds –
600000 36 years regression
400000
EAAWS:
SIX of the EIGHT
game bird species
200000
have statistically
significant decline.
0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Since July 2014 when GMA was established, the game
bird abundance has been less than half of the historic
average (first 18 years of data)
Game bird abundance
300000
Average game bird abundance (first 18yrs): 268,000
250000
200000
150000
Annual game bird
100000 abundance (GMA yrs)
50000
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Decimation
• EAAWS 2018 game bird count: approx 100,000 ducks counted in 2018
• 10 transects, major wetlands, one-third of Australia
• 2018 “harvest” in Victoria: approx 400,000 ducks
• Plus wounded, abandoned,
illegally killed: approx 100,000?
• So FIVE times the painstaking EAAWS count
was destroyed in one season
• Meanwhile EAAWS October 2018 finds
no breeding activity at all for game species
ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE? NO
CLIMATE CHANGE: Victoria is heating up
Eastern states are drying - 5 decades of rainfall trends
EAAWS: 2018 exceptionally dry RAINFALL: • 3rd lowest for Murray-Darling Basin • 4th lowest for NSW • 8th lowest for Vic TEMPERATURE: • NSW record warmest Jan-Oct • Vic equal record warmest Jan-Oct EVAPORATION was high: • Rain events brought no lasting relief
Game Duck Decline: examples Chestnut Teal Australasian Shoveler (728 counted) (1038 counted)
Misleading graphs • These are EAAWS graphs for all 50 species of wetland birds (including swans, ibis etc). Only eight species are game DUCKS that can be legally shot in Victoria. • The wetland area index is close to a record low. • EAAWS 2018 data showed no game ducks at all were observed to be breeding.
WHEN TO CANCEL? Historically, duck shooting season cancellations occur when the previous October wetland area index is low. This works: the game duck abundance index then rises in the following October. Exception: in October 2015 the wetland area index was lowest on record. GMA reduced bags but did not cancel the 2016 season. The October 2016 game bird abundance index then fell to the lowest on record. Reduced quotas do not work.
Unlawful unregulated behaviour persists –
the Pegasus Report recommendations
have been ‘accepted’ but not enacted.
Amongst other things, the comprehensive Pegasus Report (2017) concluded:
• Non-compliant behaviours and unsanctioned breaches of hunting laws are
‘commonplace and widespread’.
• The regulation of duck shooting in Victoria is ineffective.
• Hunting laws in Victoria are seen as likely ‘impossible to effectively enforce in the field’.
• The Game Management Authority is conflicted in its role as a promoter and regulator of
hunting and has a ‘too comfortable’ relationship with hunting organisations.
• GMA has ‘not been able to effectively deliver its compliance and enforcement
responsibilities’.
• GMA’s reporting and complaint handling procedures do not meet the standards
expected of a contemporary regulator.
• The current licensing regime is ineffective in ensuring a minimum acceptable level
of awareness and competence amongst hunters (particularly recommending
stringent mandatory testing for knowledge of laws and shotgunning skills training)Legal complaints from the 2018 season (not sanctioned) The alleged offences in the April 2018 complaint (photos, videos, identities, witnesses) documented evidence included: • Shooting non-game species; • Failure to kill injured ducks immediately (despite the new regulation); • Failure to examine retrieved ducks; • Allowing gun dog to continuously retrieve and maul an injured duck (a serious case of the ‘baiting and luring’ offence under POCTA (13(1B)); • Shooting at low levels across the water; • Shooting from moving boat; • Killing an injured duck by drowning the duck; and • Continuing to shoot before retrieving last shot/injured duck.
Legal complaints from the 2018 season (not sanctioned)
A dying sport –
Only 2 in every 1,000 Victorians took part in duck shooting in 2018
41% drop in “Percentage of 10% drop in “Licensed duck shooters as a
licensed duck shooters who percentage of the Victorian population”
participate on opening weekend”
70 0.45
0.445
60
0.44
0.435
50
0.43
40 0.425
0.42
30
0.415
20 0.41
0.405
10
0.4
0 0.395
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019Thank you
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