Here is the response I got, approximately 1 month after sending a message expressing my concern:
"
Thank you for contacting this office about the prescribed annual duck hunting season.
Game hunting in Victoria must remain safe, responsible and sustainable. That's why the Victorian Government undertakes a substantial survey of duck numbers and environmental factors before the open season each year, as well as requiring hunters to pass the Waterfowl Identification Test.
To make sure duck numbers remain sustainable, the length of the season and daily limits may be adjusted based on independent advice from Victoria's Game Management Authority (GMA), in consultation with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Analysis of relevant environmental indicators, including duck numbers and distribution across South Eastern Australia, breeding indices, and water levels in Victoria's wetlands, informs the GMA's recommendations to the Government.
The GMA will provide its independent advice to the Government, which will include any recommendations about modifications to the 2016 duck season, by January.
The Government will take note of the dry seasonal conditions in some parts of Victoria before deciding whether to adjust the normal duck hunting season length and daily limits. Certain wetlands may also be closed in the lead up to, or at any time during, the open season in 2016.
There are considerable numbers of authorised officers and Victoria Police members on site at hunting areas during the season to make sure hunters and protesters remain safe and comply with all relevant laws and regulations.
The GMA is responsible for regulating hunting in Victoria and the Government expects it to continue to manage duck hunting by working closely with the community and using the most accurate scientific data available.
Thank you for raising this matter.
"
I will refrain from commenting until I have heard what some of you have to say :)
Hard to comment without knowing what the concerns were that you expressed in your message.
If for example your concern was that there was no goverment management of duck hunting in Victoria then the response would seem adequate.
If your concerns were otherwise then maybe the response does not provide the information you were after.
Good on you, soakes, for writing to the Minister about duck hunting.
The fact that ducks are essentially seen as sport is testament to the value we place on wildlife. In our grossly overpopulated world there is ever increasing pressure on Nature to provide us with amusement let alone food & fibre to sustain us. E.g., increasing areas of land are being allocated to trail biking & mountain bike riding, recreation activities which cause considerable soil erosion & damage to natural habitats. These attacks on Nature will surely bite us viciously on the bum one day - if they're not already!
Whose needs are met by the shooting of ducks? Certainly not the ducks. And why spend valuable government resources on collecting data about duck numbers & the availablility of water when those resources could be far better spent on conservation efforts to preserve duck numbers? I would have thought that in this day & age when there is increasing concern about the demise of wildlife that duck shooting would be totally unacceptable. Regrettably, the Victorian government, at least, wants to please the hunters while simultaneously trying to give the impression it's concerned about the environment, a have your cake & eat it strategy which, I suggest, is doomed to failure in the long term.
More specifically, teaching hunters to identify water fowl species may be of limited benefit because humans generally have become so disdainful of the values Nature holds that many hunters, as they take aim, are unprepared to discriminate between species. Evidence to support this contention comes in the form of the number of endangered Freckled Duck which are shot in many hunting seasons.
Some people would argue that compromises have to be made between Nature & human recreation. Unfortunately, Nature is being compromised out of existence.
Clearly this is a form letter that was sent out to everyone who expressed an opinion vaguely in the vicinity of ducks. It in no way addressed my concern (which was that it is "quite insane to allow so-called "hunters" to basically just kill ducks for fun").
The very fact that the government relies on the advice of an organisation called the "Game Management Authority" demonstrates that animals are not considered as valuable entities, or indeed anything else other than "game" - a commodity to be exploited as any old moron sees fit.
I dion't give a flying toss about most of the points alluded to in the minister's message - and to be honest, I don't think he does either. As if he even read my letter, or my reply to his inane, meaningless response designed by the committee for sounding good whilst actually doing nothing.
soakes
Olinda, Victoria, Australia