Media release – Tim Baker, Secretary, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, 2 March 2021
Decision of Secretary on Opening of Reserves and Crown Land
The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) has undertaken the annual wild duck monitoring to inform sustainable management of the species.
DPIPWE undertakes monitoring of the harvested wild duck species annually using standard counts on a series of wetlands and by collecting harvest data.
The methodology and approach used to conduct the count this year is consistent with previous counts conducted over the past three decades.
The survey indicates that duck numbers are at levels within the range seen in recent years and as a result of increased rainfall, ducks are well-dispersed across Tasmania and therefore not vulnerable to over-harvesting.
On this basis, I have accepted the advice of Game Services Tasmania that hunting wild duck should be permitted in the following Reserves and other Crown Land:
- Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve (excluding the area known as “The Sanctuary”);
- Lake Tiberias Game Reserve;
- Farm Cove Game Reserve;
- North East River Game Reserve;
- Waterhouse Conservation Area (Big Waterhouse Lake and Blackmans Lagoon only);
- Cameron Regional Reserve (excluding the Boobyalla and Foster Marshes area);
- Brushy Lagoon Conservation Area; and
- unallocated Crown Land at Lake Crescent and Lake Sorell.
A statement of reasons for my decision is available on the DPIPWE website. www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/ducks
Tasmania’s wild duck hunting season opens this weekend (Saturday 6 March 2021) and the season runs until Sunday 6 June 2021.
For more information about the duck hunting season visit www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/RGL
For more information about duck management in Tasmania, visit: www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/
Statement – Ivan Davis, Animal Justice Party, 3 March 2021
The media release from the Secretary DPIPWE exhibits a wonderfully high level of bureaucracy and research and is to be commended for its rigour.
Unfortunately, it is also fundamentally ignoring the changes in our society that no longer license this violent, unprincipled, cruel activity. This is not a harvest. This is a killing activity for fun. Even the minister admits this is a recreational pursuit. The fact that a few people in our society get fun and relaxation from killing and maiming our wildlife is abhorrent to many people. Usually when people kill for fun, lust, or in anger they receive severe sanctions. The fact that the minister has licensed the activity is out of step with the reality of social change.
If there is any argument that people want to eat duck, then I will say that there are many more people who do not want you to eat duck just as they would not want you to eat your dog. I also do not want you to eat your dog. There are many cheaper ways to find sustenance that do not require violence and cruelty.
This is not a harvest. This is violence and cruelty for no other reason than tradition and that can never be an excuse in a society that values rationality. I call on the government to ban duck hunting permanently and thus establish another niche of kindness, consideration, rationality and awareness in our land.
