Victorian Government and sustainable game management.

[erron]

SSAA (Vic) - MEDIA RELEASE


DSE
Dubious Scientific Evidence

Duck Season 2004


The SSAA (Vic) echoes the recent sentiments of Field and Game Australia and
other hunting groups that the announcement of the 2004 Duck Season by
Minister Thwaites is a huge disappointment to all recreational hunters and
rural communities around Victoria.

The SSAA (Vic) believes that the economic impact of this decision will be
felt hardest by rural Victorians who are still struggling to recover from
the drought. A 1995 Department of Natural Resources and Environment survey
showed expenditure in excess of $30 Million a year by duck hunters alone.
Such economic activity will not be seen in 2004 with a drastically reduced
season.

SSAA (Vic) President, Mr Sebastian Ziccone said: "It's ironic that at the
December Labor Party State Conference, a motion to "permanently ban duck
hunting", was overwhelmingly defeated by the 600 members present, yet the
Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) now significantly
diminishes the 2004 Duck Season with flawed science.

The parliamentary country caucus had a large influence on the December vote
and rejected the motion to "permanently ban duck hunting" which showed that
they were in touch with rural Victorian communities. "They obviously
understand the impact duck hunting has on their local economies and more
importantly on the people of these regions," Mr Ziccone said.

The SSAA (Vic) believe the shortened season is a double whammy for
businesses that rely on revenue from recreational hunters participating in
the Duck Season. Shop owners, hoteliers, caravan park owners, outdoor
camping and clothing suppliers, petrol station owners, restaurants and
other small rural retailers will all be affected by the government's
decision to reduce the Duck Season this year. Not to mention the gun
dealers and other firearm industry groups that will be most hard hit.

All major hunting organisations and industry groups in Victoria have
withdrawn planned advertising in this year's hunting guide in response to
the decision to significantly reduce the bag limit and duration of the 2004
Duck Season. "Enough is enough" Mr Ziccone said. "This decision wasn't
only in response to the reduction of the 2004 Duck Season, but also the
DSE's treatment of recreational hunters on a number of issues over some
time."

This adds to a growing number of issues adversely affecting Victorians
including the recent decision to scrap the fox bounty and replace this with
indiscriminate poisoning of not only foxes, but also native species.
Other issues include access for hunters, high country enforcement, which
the Australian Deer Association have been prominent in addressing.

"It is about time that the government started to acknowledge the impact of
some of their decisions on ALL Victorians. The Bracks Government so often
tries to remind us that they are working for ALL Victorians and we would
like to see this reflected in some of their decisions," Mr Ziccone said.

The SSAA (Vic) and other hunting groups have been calling on the Victorian
Government to catch up with "world's best practice" methods of achieving
sustainable game management. NSW and Tasmania have taken the lead in
Australia by adopting first class game management systems similiar to that
of the New Zealand government. "Licence fees and other associated costs
that hunters pay to become accredited in this State should be used on for
game species research, habitat improvements, and development of hunter and
community education programs," Mr Ziccone said.

Thousands of hunters in Victoria pay licence fees to the State Government,
but these fees are not used to gather important information on the game
species that they hunt. The data that the DSE has relied upon to make
decisions on Duck Seasons is not complete and has been refuted by
scientific peers in this field of expertise.

"Certainly the information that the DSE is currently using to make seasonal
management decisions cannot be correlated or tested scientifically. A
number of highly credited scientists in this area have refuted the data in
the past, yet it is still relied upon to make decisions. We need an open
and transparent system to address these and other issues affecting
recreational hunters"

Mr Ziccone concluded by saying "I would urge all hunters to abide by the
restrictive regulations and to go out and enjoy their hunting with their
families and friends. But more importantly hunters should start to become
active in speaking to their local Member of Parliament and let them know
how important the culture and tradition of hunting is to them and their
families.


END





Regards,



Mike Billing
Operations Manager
SSAA (Vic) Limited
Phone: (03) 9590 0177
Fax: (03) 9590 0188
email: mbilling@ssaavic.com.au

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