Today – December 20, 2022 – the documents Using duck proxies and surface water to inform hunting arrangements for 2023 compiled by Marcel Klaassen, and the Game Management Authority’s Considerations for the 2023 duck season were made public.

It’s early days yet, but here’s an initial reaction as to why Field & Game Australia is extremely disappointed in the results recently gained from the application of the Interim Harvest Model.

Our position hasn’t altered since the our "Response to the IHM framework"  published in January 2022; the response was placed on our website and shared with our members at that time, and our opinions have not changed.

Field & Game Australia remains in support of an IHM and an eventual Adaptive Harvest Model in principle. We’ve always said the devil would be in the detail, and that the model in its current form was overly conservative.

The IHM has many positives, which are outlined below; however the negatives require continuous improvement and we’ve been asking for that since its inception.

In its current format the model suggests a bag limit of four birds per day; how could that outcome be reasonably expected as an outcome for season 2023?

What the IHM framework has delivered to date:

Positives:

· Reduced political and emotive influences around the season-setting arrangements.

· Data-based decisions, but which are perhaps overly conservative by design.

· The ability to eventually deliver more timely decisions. FGA has long advocated for season parameters to be locked in by December 1, thus allowing time for industry retail stakeholders to have adequate stock of hunting equipment on hand – especially non-toxic ammunition – rather than risking a supply shortage.

· Science and data-based decisions that are defendable once correct data and formulas are input.

· True stakeholder consultation.

· A monitoring program to determine game duck abundance in Victoria – the ARI helicopter duck survey – which was developed in 2020 and further refined in 2021. Field & Game Australia continues to advocate for inclusion of this data in the IHM as a matter of urgency. A precedent has been set where ministerial influence suggested that the helicopter survey results could not be ignored, resulting in a positive shift to seasonal arrangements.

· A fixed season length that removes doubt and creates certainty for all stakeholders, which begins on the third Saturday in March and runs through to the second Monday in June.

· Increased hunter opportunity over the recent/current trend to shorten season length as well as bag limit.

· Sustainability of the future of duck hunting in Victoria as supported by the Victorian Government.

· An aggregate point-score system over three years, which means a longer impact from favourable conditions.

· Increased hunter opportunity with regards to season length or huntable days.

· A defendable process which gains social acceptance (social licence).

· Opportunity to be part of the consultation around refinement/improvement as a stakeholder.

Negatives:

· Aggregate point-score system over three years will mean a longer recover period from poor conditions.

· The four-bird daily bag limit as a recommendation for the 2022 and 2023 seasons creates a genuine concern that a 10-bird bag limit will be unachievable or rarely achieved. The modelling for the IHM when applied to the previous 30 years indicates only two years of 10-bird bag limits, when in reality we had 13 years of 10-bird bag limits being delivered. This is a result of the inputs being driven by the Eastern Australia Waterbird Aerial Survey, which is not fit for the purpose of determining game bird seasons. This will simply not be accepted as a reasonable outcome by the hunting community and is seen as being overly conservative.

· Conservative bag limits may create hunter apathy and result in lower hunter participation. Many hunters will simply not travel for a lower bird bag – resulting in not only an economic hit to those suppliers and communities that benefit from hunter participation each season but also risking a drop in the number of game licences applied for and thus lessening the importance of the season in the eyes of the government.

· Overly conservative bag limits have the potential to place increased hunting pressure on locations within an hour or so of Melbourne, such as Connewarre State Game Reserve, and may increase species-specific hunting, such as a focus on Pacific black duck and other larger birds of good table quality.

· There is a growing concern that these restrictions may drive hunters across the border where more generous regulations are applied.

· FGA members believe that a truly adaptive harvest model (AHM to be implemented for 2025-2026) would allow more than 10 birds to be harvested. If the model has an upper limit less than 10, it is not truly adaptive.

· There is a risk that hunter organisations may become irrelevant to hunters, creating a lack of connection between the regulator and the hunter. Hunting organisations are by default educators/informers, and the opportunity to advocate for responsible hunting will be impacted.

· Additional Arthur Rylah Institute helicopter survey data isn’t currently a consideration for the season setting process; instead, the Kingsford fixed wing Eastern Australian Waterbird Aerial Survey weighs heavily.