Vic duck hunt triggers concerns for declining waterbirds

2025 Victorian Duck Hunt Triggers Concerns for Declining Waterbirds

VICTORIA: As the Victorian duck hunting season begins, BirdLife Australia is concerned about the long-term health of Australia’s waterbirds. Victoria’s Game Management Authority (GMA) announced last week that, of over 670 huntable waterbodies in Victoria, only 18 wetlands or groups of wetlands will be closed for the 2025 Victorian duck hunting season. This follows the recent announcement that this year’s season will be longer and deadlier than any in seven years.

BirdLife Australia maintains its stance that the Victorian government should look at the complete picture of how Australia’s wetland birds are faring overall. The Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey, an independent survey conducted annually by experts at the University of New South Wales, shows waterbird populations have declined as much as 90% over the last forty years in eastern Australia.

When wetter periods increase wetland availability, as seen in 2012 and 2022, waterfowl numbers typically rise temporarily. However, several datasets have shown that as wetlands return to their normal state, bird populations also revert to the worrying trend of long-term decline. BirdLife Australia is concerned the current method of setting maximum season length and bag limits using duck counts conducted in Victoria alone during a wetter period is problematic.

The Freckled Duck and Australasian Shoveller are listed as threatened species in Victoria. With many wetlands in the Murray Darling Basin experiencing prolonged dry periods, populations of these ducks are concentrating in an increasingly limited number of Victorian wetlands. Both are at risk of accidental shootings as they mix with other ducks and have regularly been documented as off-target kills. The nature of disturbance caused by hunting can disrupt important life stages of many wetland birds including critical Brolga flocking periods, colonial breeding of cormorants, spoonbills and herons, and pre-migration fuelling of migratory shorebirds.

“While it’s a relief to know that Australian waterbirds at these 18 Victorian wetlands will be protected from the impacts of hunting this season initially, we remain concerned that recreational hunting of native waterbirds causes significant disruptions to wetland habitats and is not a sustainable practice given the current ecological context,” said BirdLife Australia’s Executive Director of Conservation and Science, Lyndel Wilson.

“Australian waterbirds are in decline. Meanwhile, Australia is preparing for the imminent arrival of H5 bird flu which could further decimate waterbird numbers. We just can’t see how recreational hunting of native birds can be justified.”

Wetland bird experts at BirdLife Australia will continue to provide the GMA with data supporting the closure of wetlands for the 2025 season where monitoring demonstrates government-set thresholds for the presence of sensitive species are being met.

“We will continue our decades-long advocacy for the long-term health of Australia’s native waterbirds and to minimising disturbances to their wetland habitats.”

BirdLife Australia Media Enquiries: Please contact James Johnson on 0423 659 324 or at media@birdlife.org.au.

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