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Have your say on duck hunting in South Australia

BirdLife developed a simple tool, to provide your feedback to the South Australian Parliament’s committee into the Hunting of Native Birds in SA.

Public comments closed 19 May

Background:

Long-term monitoring of our waterbirds shows that populations have still not recovered from periods of drought and low rainfall. While the 2021 and 2022 breeding seasons have been wetter in some areas, waterbird populations have not yet recovered the losses inflicted during drought years.

With waterbirds needing time to recover, and with the spectre of El Niño and drought back on the horizon, the last thing our recovering waterbirds need is to be staring down the barrel of a gun!

Disappointingly, the Malinauskas Government announced that the 2023 duck and quail hunting seasons will go ahead. Alongside this, they established a Legislative Council Select Committee to consider the future of the hunting of Native Birds in SA. Read the full committee Terms of Reference below.

Public comments closed 19 May, and we await the SA Parliament’s response to submissions in the coming months.

Not a South Australian? Victoria also received public comments on native bird hunting this year.

Photo: Pink-eared Ducks by Rob Solic

 
Pink-eared Ducks by Rob Solic.jpg

Comment Guide

Suggested comments that we provided to help supporters develop their inquiry response, from our waterbird experts.

Recreational hunting adds an unnecessary pressure to declining duck populations.

  • Just as droughts are known to cause population declines for waterbirds, we know that we need prolonged wet conditions to simply maintain waterbird population sizes as they are.
  • In order to recover waterbird populations to healthy pre-1980 levels, breeding and recruitment conditions for waterbirds need to not only be good enough to maintain the population at its current size, but to grow the population. Successive quality breeding seasons are needed for population recovery.
  • Long-term monitoring across Eastern Australia shows that duck species populations have not yet recovered after previous repeated years of drought and low rainfall.
  • While the last few seasons have been wet in some areas, the bounce back of waterbird populations has not been sufficient to restore populations to healthy sizes. Several more good seasons are needed to recover population loss inflicted from periods of severe drought.
  • “Game” species are at just 25% of their long-term average numbers.

Recreational hunting can have negative direct and indirect impacts on threatened and non-game species.

  • Plains-wanderers, a critically endangered species, can occasionally be killed during the quail hunting season as they look superficially similar and are found in the same habitat.
  • With wetlands in better condition than previous years, conditions are ripe for breeding. This also means greater risk, with higher aggregations of threatened wetlands birds and non-game species.
  • Notable threatened or non-game species at risk include: Australasian Bittern, Australian Painted Snipe, Brolga, Great and Intermediate Egrets, Hardheads, Australasian Shovelers, Blue-billed, Freckled, and Musk Ducks.
  • Migratory shorebirds feed in wetlands, with adults fuelling up for their departure for the northern hemisphere in late March/early April, but with many birds too young to participate in breeding remaining in Australia throughout the year.
  • Even if these birds are not directly shot, the disturbance to them in their habitat can have drastic and detrimental effects.

Select Committee Terms of Reference

SELECT COMMITTEE ON HUNTING OF NATIVE BIRDS

To inquire into and report on the Hunting of Native Birds, with particular reference to:

(a) Community values and perspective;

(b) Cultural, social and recreational aspects;

(c) Sustainability, environmental and animal welfare aspects of native bird hunting;

(d) Economic considerations;

(e) Perspectives of First Nations;

(f) How native bird hunting is managed in other jurisdictions; and

(g) Any other relevant matter;