Shooting in NSW national parks

[Megan Mears <>]

Thanks a lot for this. For anyone interested, the list of National park estate land that cannot be declared as public hunting land is on page 11 of the following PDF. Unfortunately the list is very short.
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/nswbills.nsf/0/c8afc0c4709e478bca25788e0005e862/$FILE/b2011-163-d18-House.pdf

I have been thinking and reading a lot since I wrote my Souris vs Snipe emails not too long ago and since I found out how critically low the numbers of Australasian and Little Bittern are reputed to be I changed my focus to Australasian Bittern. I have written a letter to Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Referrals to express my concerns which anyone interested can find at http://majurabirds.blogspot.com.au/

My introductory paragraph reads as follows:

I believe that the NSW Game Bird Management Program will have a significant impact on the endangered Australasian Bittern. Australasian Bittern in inland south-eastern Australia survive within a limited range of habitat. The core range of the Australasian Bittern lies in the Riverina http://www.birdlife.org.au/projects/bittern-project/latest-news-ab and it’s my belief that changes in game bird shooting laws in NSW, which enable landowners to protect ricefields from wild ducks, without regard for season or quantity of birds taken, will have a significant impact on Australasian Bittern. I believe this will occur through misidentification, misadventure and through stress, which will force the Bittern into areas where they are more vulnerable to predators. I believe that the consequences of changing shooting laws have not been properly considered by the NSW Game Bird Management Program. I would also like to know whether the NSW Game Bird Management Program have lodged an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Referral to determine the effects of changing laws on endangered species, which inhabit the rice crop they seek to protect.

I have not sent it to the EPBC and would appreciate any comments before I do.

Regards.

Megan Mears

On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 1:37 PM, Stephanie Haygarth <> wrote:

Further to recent emails about this issue, ABC 7.30 ran an item on it last night which can be seen on the web at  http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3693098.htm

Also, GetUp ran a very successful ad in Sunday's Sun Herald which has triggered widespread interest including among the media.  The ad can be seen here: Click here to download a full size version of your ad to print and keep. [3.2MB PDF]  .  The SMH ran an article the following day here "Plan to let minors shoot in parks"

Cheers

Matthew Higgins