Duck hunting in Victoria Presentation to GMA – December 2018

Who are we?

Animals Australia is

Australia’s foremost animal

protection organisation,

representing some 30

member societies and

thousands of individual supporters.

Our Vision

A world where all animals

are treated with compassion

and respect and are free from cruelty.

Our Beliefs

We believe that we can

create a kinder world for all

by promoting respect for

animals and that our

treatment of animals reflects

who we are as individuals and as a society.

Animals Australia: policy on recreational duck shooting –

it causes unnecessary suffering and so is opposed.

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.

y = -7836.4x + 2E+07

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

EAAWS:

Statistically significant

DECLINE of total

game birds –

36 years regression

EAAWS:

SIX of the EIGHT

game bird species

have statistically

significant decline.

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Game bird abundance

Annual game bird abundance (GMA yrs)

Average game bird abundance (first 18yrs): 268,000

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)

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

(728 counted)

Australasian Shoveler

(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.

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)

Unlawful unregulated behaviour persists –

the Pegasus Report recommendations

have been ‘accepted’ but not enacted.

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

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

41% drop in “Percentage of

licensed duck shooters who participate on opening weekend”

0.395

0.4

0.405

0.41

0.415

0.42

0.425

0.43

0.435

0.44

0.445

0.45

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

10% drop in “Licensed duck shooters as a percentage of the Victorian population”

Thank you