Right: Every duck season brings its opponents, as well as the sport's enthusiasts. Confrontations are fewer than they were a few decades ago, but feeling still run high on occasions.
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Arguments against banning duck hunting
1. Duck hunting is ecologically beneficialThose who support the continuation of duck hunting in Australian states and territories argue that hunters and their associations help to preserve the ecology and promote the survival of duck species through their contributions to habitat conservation.
Sporting Clays Association Australia (a subdivision of Shooting Australia) states that one of its primary objectives is 'to preserve, restore, develop, and maintain waterfowl habitat in Australia.' The Association further claims, 'Waterfowl hunters are aware of the importance of our wetlands and the wildlife they hold and have traditionally been [at] the forefront of wetland conservation, often being the first to notice changes in waterfowl population and seek reasons for them.'
The same claims are made by Field & Game Australia which has further noted, 'Field & Game Australia has been involved in many long and difficult efforts to save wetlands in Australia for the hundreds of species which depend wholly or partly upon wetland habitats for their survival. Many of the efforts have been predominately aimed at non-game species, especially the Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus and the Brolga Grus rubicundus. Some of the wetlands that have benefitted from hunter-led conservation since 1958 include: Hird Swamp (Ramsar-listed, part of the Kerang Wetlands), Johnson Swamp (Ramsar-listed, part of the Kerang Wetlands), Dowd Morass (Ramsar-listed, part of the Gippsland Lakes), Reedy Lake (Nagambie), Kanyapella Basin (near Echuca), Lake Borrie (Ramsar-listed, part of the Port Phillip Bay Western Shoreline, and Bellarine Peninsula), Reedy Lake (Geelong - Ramsar-listed, part of the Port Phillip Bay Western Shoreline, and Bellarine Peninsula), Macleod Morass (near Bairnsdale) [and] Hospital Swamp (Geelong)...Many of these wetlands have long-term, ongoing conservation work performed by hunters, as these important wetland habitats require active maintenance and monitoring to ensure that the wetland ecosystems remain balanced and able to support a wide variety of flora and fauna.'
In addition to duck hunters' direct conservation efforts, supporters note that the licence fees hunters pay contribute to the establishment and maintenance of waterfowl reserves. Sporting Clays Australia has noted that duck hunting groups actually lobbied state governments that they be charged licence fees so that the governments could spend the money on wetland maintenance. The Association states, 'This raises more than $1.5 million dollars every year across Australia, much of which is channeled into wetland conservation projects and wetland purchase and lease agreements.'
Kev Gommers, Secretary of the Victorian Duck Hunters' Association, has stated in relation to wildfowl reserves in Victoria, '[Past] governments...used the money raised from selling duck stamps toward purchasing nearly 200 state game reserves. These are a bastion of refuge for all animals which live there.' It has been suggested that if duck hunting were banned, many of these reserves might be sold to developers as agricultural or residential land. It has further been noted that if ducks were not valued by regional communities as a game bird, many local farmers would see them exclusively as pests and the numbers shot are likely to be at least as great as currently, without the habitat conservation work that duck hunting currently promotes. In 2010, Associate Professor Graham Hall, School of Animal Studies, The University of Queensland, warned, 'If ducks have no value to hunters and landowners, their occupation of land, pollution of water and consumption of vegetation assumes increased economic significance. In this context, some duck species may be considered "pests". If pest mitigation is the only way to hunt ducks, it may create incentives to promote their pest status, exactly the opposite of what is needed to drive and expand habitat conservation efforts.
Perhaps more important, when ducks are hunted as pests, as in New South Wales, there are no requirements for hunter's codes of practice, closed or open seasons, population monitoring, incentives to conserve habitats or any of the other benefits that come from regulated hunting seasons.'
In an opinion piece written by Sale Field and Game and published in The Gippsland Times on January 27, 2023, it was stated, 'Harvesting a naturally sustainable, renewable, free-range source of meat, which was raised on land otherwise unsuitable for agriculture or food production, and which benefits the wider ecosystem as a whole, seems like the best choice to duck hunters.'
2. Duck hunting is carefully regulated to ensure that hunting is safe, humane, and only approved game species are hunted
Supporters of duck hunting argue that the sport is highly regulated to ensure it is practised in a way that is safe, humane, and sustainable.
All duck hunters require a firearm licence. To obtain a firearm licence applicants must be residents of or work within the state where they are applying. They must be 18 years and over for an adult licence, or, between 12 and 18 years for a junior licence. They must be deemed a 'fit and proper person'. Applicants may fail to be deemed a 'fit and proper person if they have a history of mishandling firearms; have a criminal record which suggests their unsuitability to receive a firearms licence; have a record of physical or mental illness which medical evidence suggests should exclude them from owning or using firearms; have a record of drug or alcohol misuse which medical advice suggests should excluded them from owning or using a firearm and/or have failed to possess sufficient knowledge and competency in the carriage and use of firearms (that is, they have not completed or failed the relevant state firearms safety course.)
In Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania hunters are required to pass a Waterfowl Identification Test (WIT) before being permitted to hunt ducks. This ensures that all licensed duck hunters can adequately identify game and non-game waterbirds while in the field.
In Victoria, the test consists of 22 multiple-choice questions. The test is viewed as a video, and applicants have 20 minutes to complete all 22 multiple-choice questions. A species of waterfowl is viewed for approximately five seconds and hunters must select the correct waterbird species and its hunting status before moving to the next question. A score of 85 percent or greater will be required to obtain a pass (that is, 57 out of 66), provided that the applicant also correctly identifies all non-game species. All hunters must leave a fully-feathered wing on any harvested duck until immediately prior to cooking or until the duck has been taken to the person's ordinary place of residence. This allows Authorised Officers to quickly and accurately identify all waterfowl in a hunter's possession. To further public safety during duck hunting seasons there are regulations that control the behaviour of non-hunters (often protesters and animal rights activists). For example, in Victoria, it is an offence for an unauthorised person to enter or remain in specified duck hunting wetlands at certain times throughout the duck season. These times are those considered to present the highest risk of accidental injury occurring to hunter or non-hunter, such as from midnight on the opening day of the duck season until 10:00 am on that day. It is also an offence for an unauthorised person to approach within 10 metres of a person who is carrying a firearm or actively hunting ducks in specified hunting areas during the duck season.
Steps are taken to ensure that hunting is allowed only when conditions do not endanger species. Hunting is allowed only in designated hunting seasons and the duration of these adjusted to suit environmental conditions and estimated bird numbers. Australia routinely experiences variable climatic and environmental conditions. This sees much of the country undergo flood or drying conditions. Game duck species respond quickly to environmental conditions which will see their populations boom during good climate and breeding conditions and then wane during average conditions. When conditions permit, duck season in the south-eastern states runs for three months from March to June.
Specific hunting areas may be closed, and hunting seasons may be cancelled if conditions and bird numbers are considered to make that necessary. Standard bag limits may be reduced and the hours per day during which hunting is allowed may be lowered.Hunters are required to hunt ethically and humanely in a manner which is respectful of their quarry. This includes shooting only when you can retrieve your quarry; shooting only when a humane result is possible; using the right equipment to effectively and humanely hunt animals; humanely dispatching downed birds and caring appropriately for hunting dogs. Shooters are also required to hunt safely and abide by the Firearms Safety Code; always hunt within the law and report illegal behaviour; and uphold the highest ethical standards.
Hunters are also required to respect the natural environment. This includes taking all litter (including empty cartridges) away with them; protect wetlands and waterways (for example, not leaving animal remains in or near waterways); and taking part in efforts to protect and restore wildlife habitats.
3. The surveys used to estimate duck numbers are not sufficiently accurate
Duck hunters claim that surveys used to estimate duck populations and as a basis for setting bag limits and the length of hunting seasons are not sufficiently precise. They further claim that such figures cannot be used to decide whether duck hunting should continue in Australia.
In an opinion piece published in The Gippsland Times on January 27, 2023, Sale Field and Game explain that 'The Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey (EAWS) is a long-running annual survey, which is now overseen by the University of New South Wales, and 2023 marks the 41st year of continuous data gathering.' The writers praise the survey's value as a general index of ecological health; however, they claim it is not an appropriate instrument to gauge bird populations in general or in areas that have not been surveyed. They state, 'A decrease in the number of ducks counted on the wetlands surveyed does not mean there are fewer ducks in Australia. It only means there were fewer ducks in the wetlands the survey covered (which were limited).'
Kev Gommers, Secretary of the Victorian Duck Hunters Association, has noted, 'The Eastern Australian Waterbird Aerial Survey this year found only 38 grey teal nationwide. Yet I see pictures and videos of thousands of them.' Critics argue that some animal activists improperly use the survey data to make 'claims that... low count numbers are indicative of population declines, and [reduced breeding] - again discounted by...survey data which showed the measure of breeding birds (breeding indices) as being the second highest on record.' It has been claimed that survey data this year is likely to be particularly suspect as floods have dramatically increased the number of breeding areas available to waterfowl. It is being suggested that this increased terrain suitable for breeding has meant that bird numbers are likely to be down in some surveyed areas because the birds are more widely dispersed. Sale Field and Game have stated, 'The lack of ducks...is indicative of a huge amount of available habitat this year that is not in the survey area - and when ducks are breeding, they are generally scarce as far as being able to be counted from a passing aeroplane.'
The impact of increased breeding over a wider area has been explained by Field & Game Australia, which argues that the survey is currently an even less reliable indicator of duck number. Field and Game Australia has noted, 'Eastern Australia received near-record rainfall in 2022, boosting wetland habitat and nesting vegetation. Waterbird breeding as recognised in the EAAWS was at near record highs... From the air it's easy to see nests in trees and rookeries on islands; but ducks in tree hollows, under lignum bushes and in thick foliage are not so easy to spot.'
Sale Field and Game has also pointed out that the inevitable shortcomings of the counting process as influenced by breeding locations. They have stated, 'Ducks respond very quickly to the ideal conditions created by flooding and spread out across the landscape to make the most of the abundant food and good nesting habitat. In dry times, they concentrate back onto the waterways and are easier to count - but this doesn't mean there are more ducks in droughts than in floods...'
Hunting associations have called on governments to use a more appropriate tool to determine whether duck hunting seasons should go ahead, how long they should be and what bag limits should be set. The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) is calling on governments to adopt a scientifically controlled season predictor such as the Waterfowl Conservation Harvest Model (WCHM), which would look at all factors affecting game bird numbers. The SSAA Victoria's Hunting Development Manager, David Laird, has noted, 'The WCHM would enable decisions about such things as bag limits each Duck Season to be based on science and not politics or emotion. We are encouraging decision-makers to commit to a regulated season and bag limits for a period of five years while a WCHM-type system is implemented.'
4. Duck hunting is economically advantageous for rural and regional areas
Supporters of duck hunting argue that the sport makes an important contribution to rural and regional economies.
The economic benefits of hunting as a whole are substantial. In 2019, RG Consulting Group compiles a report which found that Australia's hunters and shooters contributed $2.4 billion to the economy in 2018. The report claimed the benefits included $800 million in direct spending and $1.6 billion in flow-on economic activity. It said if hunting was prohibited, some expenditure would be redirected to similar activities 'such as camping, fishing, four-wheel driving', but that recreational hunting made a net contribution of $335 million and added 3,300 jobs in the previous year.
The report, much of which was extrapolated from Victorian figures, found that hunters are generally male, more likely to be in full time employment and have higher incomes than the average Victorian. Hunters took an average of six hunting trips during 2019 and that many hunters participate in other outdoor activities such as camping, target shooting, fishing and four-wheel driving. Thus hunters were found to be recurrent visitors to regional areas who had above average disposable income. 23 percent of hunters had incomes greater than $156,000 compared with 14 percent of the general population of Victorians. This makes them a valuable additional consumer base in regional areas. The economic activity associated with recreational game hunting occurred across Victoria. Most of the expenditure was outside Melbourne, with 69 percent located in regional Victoria. The Local Government Areas with the highest gross economic contribution were Mansfield ($12M), East Gippsland ($11M) and Latrobe ($11M). The towns with the highest hunting-related expenditure were Mansfield ($21M), Horsham $11M), Wodonga ($10M) and Bendigo ($9M).
The contribution of hunting to the Australian economy is relatively high as it tends to be expenditure that is not focused on imported goods. Expenditures made on recreational hunting trips include only a small number of imports as much occurs at businesses in Australia selling Australian services (i.e., restaurants, accommodation, and vehicle repairs). The same is true of spending on other outdoor activities. This makes hunting activities a direct contributor to employment in Australia.
Hunting as a boost to rural and regional economies is potentially very important as most regional areas are facing long-term decline. Over the past 20 years, the average earnings of those living in regional areas has been 20 percent below that of those living in cities.
What has continued to occur is the steady shift of productive work to the cities and away from rural and regional areas. Agriculture and manufacturing, two industries that drove the economy in the 20th century, both required the cheap and abundant land that regional and suburban areas offered. The decline of these industries has seen a steady shift towards the city as the dominant economic force in Australia. Supporters of hunting (including duck hunting) claim that for those struggling to make a livelihood in regional and rural Australia, the influx of expenditure brought by hunters is an input they are ill-equipped to lose. Some of the indirect economic benefits derived from the sport of hunting include the higher level of physical fitness exhibited by most hunters. The RG Consulting Group report found that hunters engaged in more physical activity and had 'higher levels of wellbeing' when compared to the general population. The then Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie stated, 'It is important for governments and the community to have a solid evidence base about the social, economic and wellbeing benefits of shooting and hunting - just as it is for any other sport.'
5. Duck hunting fosters environmental awareness and has human beings actively participating in the food chain
Supporters of duck hunting argue that the practice increases the environmental awareness of those who take part. They further claim that hunters are actively participating in the food chain in which all creatures, including human beings, form a part.
Supporters of duck hunting claim that those who participate in this sport develop an appreciation of the environment and of ecological pressures on native species. Geelong Field and Game has sought to explain how its members acquire an acute awareness of their environment and seek to preserve it. The group states, 'Hunters are different. They are outdoors people, with an innate curiosity that draws them to explore the natural world around them. Whether hunting or not, they are keen observers of weather, environmental conditions, water, plant life and especially bird life. They will spend time observing and studying, for them, the [Barwon] Estuary is a lifelong classroom you keep attending to build knowledge and understanding.'
The group has further explained how its members and members of other regional field and game clubs have worked to preserve the habitats of the birdlife they hunt. John Long, a former president of Geelong Field and Game, has explained the work he has personally been involved in for over fifty years. He states, 'We hunt ducks for 12 weeks a year, but we spend the rest of the time on conservation projects, I spend six months of the year hunting foxes [which do damage to native species] ... The place [the Barwon Estuary] was in a terrible mess at various times, there were car bodies and rubbish dumped there, we planted trees by the thousands and put in nest boxes. We have maintained it to be a pretty pristine waterway.'
Those who support duck hunting further argue that duck hunters are participating in an activity that all carnivores rely upon either directly through their own efforts or indirectly through purchasing fish and meat which has been cultivated and slaughtered by others. Duck hunters regard this as a natural process that merely underlines human beings place within the food chain. They also claim that killing one's own food is no more brutal or unethical than relying on meat that comes from slaughtered domestic animals.
In an article published in the Shepparton News on April 4, 2022, Nick Dean, the president of the Echuca-Moama Field and Game Club, stated, 'Duck hunting is no different to deer hunting or to fishing. To use the phrase hunter-gatherer, we are out providing for the table.
I often say to people, where do you think the food comes from at the supermarket? That lamb roast that you're having for Sunday lunch was a baby lamb running around the paddock at some point. It's food, and that's why we're out there doing it because we enjoy eating wild duck.'
In a recently published letter, Mark Fabris, of the Conservation and Hunting Alliance of South Australia (CHASA), similarly wrote, 'If as a society, we eat meat how can we justify banning hunting your own food? Carried out ethically it has no negative impact on duck numbers or the environment.' John Kentish, another member of CHASA, has also argued, 'We should remember that all human interaction with animals in our food production systems inevitably involves some degree of animal suffering, including handling, transport, captivity, castration, veterinary procedures, pest control such as myxomatosis etc. For those who are intimate with reality, duck hunting clearly falls within an acceptable range of suffering when harvesting this abundance of healthy wild food.If I choose to eat a wild duck rather than a chicken from the supermarket, on average I'd bet the duck is likely to have suffered the least!'
In March 2023, Jeff Bourman, Upper House Victorian Member of Parliament (from the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers Party) noted, 'People who happily eat farmed duck are brainwashed into thinking duck hunting is somehow cruel, yet farmed ducks being killed is not. It's cognitive dissonance of epic proportions.'