Drought cancels Australian duck hunt
Date: 08-Jan-03
Country: AUSTRALIA
The southern state of Victoria said waterfowl numbers were low and allowing the hunting season to go ahead as scheduled in March could decimate duck populations because birds from across Australia would flock to the few remaining wetlands in Victoria.
"The numbers of waterbirds have been down for some years and, if the overall waterfowl population is significantly reduced by hunting in 2003, it may take some time for it to return to average levels," said Victoria's acting premier, John Thwaites.
Another state, South Australia, has also cancelled the hunting season this year as the "Big Dry", aggravated by the El Nino weather event in the Pacific, devastates Australia's important agricultural sector.
Reduced farm output is expected to chop up to one percentage point off fiscal 2003 economic growth.
The federal government said this week that rainfall over Christmas and expectations that the impact of El Nino - a periodic warming of Pacific waters - will wane in the next three months have given rise to hopes that the worst may be over.
Recreational duckhunting is banned in Australia's most populous state, New South Wales.
Hunters caught ignoring the ban in Victoria face fines of up to A$20,000 ($11,400). ($=A$1.72).