Hi Peter,
Thanks for following up my email and I apologise to all for not checking the
actual legal status of the AB in Vic. And as you say Peter, it is the loss
of habitat that is the biggest threat in this time of low rainfall. This
rainfall shortage is certainly nothing any government can control. Also,
bodies like DSE, I know, are doing all they can to help the AB.
There is even a slight possibility that AB numbers increased with the
introduction of irrigated farming in the early 1900s and are now in a
process of returning to earlier numbers. Whatever the cause or situation, it
seems to me that it is sad that such a secretive and threatened bird does
not get all the help possible.
While hopefully none, or very few, would get shot during hunting season the
disturbance would certainly not help. Conversely, flooded hunting wetlands
may even help the situation so I do not want to start an anti hunting
discussion. My hope though would be that wetlands with known populations of
AB (Reedy Lake in Vic. etc) could be exempted from future hunting, at least
until other AB habitats outside Vic can recover.
Thanks again Peter
Jen
On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 8:21 PM, Peter Menkhorst <>wrote:
> Jen Spry stated that the Austral. Bittern is not listed as a threatened
> species in Victoria:
>
> 'Well, I believe it has been in NSW but not yet in Vic. Why not in Vic?
> Well, a cynic
> would suggest that to declare it in Vic would require prime duck hunting
> habitat (Reedy Lake, Geelong etc) to be closed to hunting, and that is not
> likely to happen. '
>
> Jen, the Australasian Bittern has long been listed as a threatened species
> under Victoria's threatened species legislation, the Flora and Fauna
> Guarantee Act 1988, as a quick look on the DSE website would show. This is
> the highest level of legislative protection available. It was also included
> as Endangered on the 'Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in
> Victoria' from the beginning of such listings many years ago [sorry, I'm at
> home and my files on these listings are at work]. Again, the Advisory List
> is available on the website.
>
> I doubt that duck hunting has much to do with the on-going decline in
> bittern numbers. The general lack of water available for environmental
> purposes throughout the bittern's range is surely of far greater
> significance, and is an incredibly complex issue for the entire Australian
> community . [the Darling River system, currently in beautiful flood, is
> mostly outside the range of this species]
>
>
> Peter Menkhorst
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
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