As the 2023 Duck hunting season approaches in Tasmania, the ongoing argument of whether or not the practice should be allowed in the state has reignited.
Starting on the 11th of March and ending on June the 12th, more than 1,000 registered hunters will soon be able to shoot up to 10 ducks each per day.
However, conservation groups are concerned about the impact on duck populations, estimating that up to 50,000 ducks were killed during the last hunting season.
The Tasmanian Greens, Birdlife Tasmania and the RSPCA are urging Environment Minister Roger Jaensch to impose a ban on the activity – similar to other states.
Last year, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reported that there were 9,222 hunters with Tasmanian hunting licenses for a number of the game species.
BirdLife Tasmania estimates that there were just over 1,100 hunters shooting ducks in Tasmania – about 0.2% of the Tasmanian population.
Dr Woehler of BirdLife Tasmania is calling for duck hunting to be banned altogether, as he believes that duck populations need more time to recover from the years of drought and hunting that have occurred.
The Greens have also weighed in, with Environment spokesperson Rosalie Woodruff saying “Supporters of duck shooting have again attempted to justify this retrograde practice as important for tourism, necessary for farmers, essential for conservation, and helping people put food on their plates.
“What a load of self-serving baloney.”
The Tasmanian government, however, has no plans to ban recreational duck hunting and says that recent surveys of wildfowl populations have not raised any new concerns.
