The November Waterfowl Count period ends on November 9 – and there have been some serious complications in undertaking the process this year.

Volunteers have been flat out counting waterfowl, but it hasn’t been easy – with the biggest obstacles being floods and access.

As hunters and conservationists we welcome the rainfall, but so many of our members, their families, and even our branch facilities have been impacted by floods; our thoughts go out to those affected by personal and property loss.

We are looking forward to collating the data we receive, but there are expected to be big holes in the regional counts due to access and priorities in saving property and rebuilding after the flood events. The Goulburn Broken area in particular was hard hit by floods and the decision was made that counts were simply not possible during this period of time.

It is predictable that waterfowl counts will be low due to dispersion; let’s face it – the ducks are busy breeding in temporary habitat everywhere across the east of Australia currently, and the numbers will be exploding despite our difficulty in recording them.

Even the Game Management Authority admitted defeat recently and had to pause the Abundance Estimates Aerial Survey until access to fuel, accommodation and safe conditions return.

Counting waterfowl from helicopters is not only impossible during floods, but we can all agree that it wouldn’t be responsible to compete for air space when rescues and flood relief are necessary for our communities.

The Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey continues to be conducted and the above-mentioned aerial survey will be restarted when flood conditions allow.

Field & Game Australia has continued to advocate for improvements to data inputs into the Interim Harvest Model. We support the Abundance Estimates Aerial Survey being included in the considerations, rather than waiting for the Adaptive Harvest Model before they are included.

When conditions improve and the helicopter surveys are repeated, this will surely give a more robust understanding of abundance within Victoria.