Charlotte Varcoe
DUCK hunting was a hot topic recently with the Select Committee on Hunting Native Birds holding its final hearing last month.
Committee chairperson and Member of the Legislative Council Ben Hood said the meeting was “great” and he was pleased with the number of representatives which came along on the day.
The committee heard from a range of locals for and against the banning of duck hunting with Mr Hood stating it was important members on the committee “listened to all the voices” in the debate.
“I was very pleased to see a great deal of people from around the Limestone Coast come to that committee and give evidence,” Mr Hood said.
“We have heard a significant amount of evidence from both sides of this argument and we have heard from the hunters themselves.
“This is about tradition, it is about family and it is about culture and being able to harvest your own food.”
Mr Hood said he did not want to pre-empt the outcomes of the committee yet he was impressed with the many who presented evidence in terms of hunting.
“It really outlines the fact that this is an important part of people’s culture and family traditions and they would not want that eroded or taken away,” he said.
“We have heard from conservation experts that have said the hunting of native birds can be a sustainable activity.”
Alongside the committee hearing evidence in person, a large number of submissions have been made including the South East Field and Game Association president John Kentish who stated hunting provided important opportunities for social interaction between friends and was “particularly valuable” in being an activity in which different generations of family could participate together.
Mr Kentish said in his submission hunting also gave the younger generation the “love and knowledge” of the environment which would “motivate them” to become conservationists of the future.
Mark Fabris also made a submission on behalf of the Lake Bonney Sporting Clays stating duck hunting was a “sustainable harvest” of natural resources and had “no negative impact” on the environment.
He stated ducks were hunted all around the world for its table quality with other states having seasonal hunting and declared ducks an “agricultural pest”.
The committee is expected to complete its findings by the end of the year.
