The duck hunting season in Victoria will go ahead this year with a reduced daily limit of birds shooters can kill.
The Victorian government decision, confirmed on Friday, comes after increased efforts from community groups to get the yearly practice banned.
The season will run from April 26 to May 30 inclusive from 8am until 30 minutes after sunset, with a bag limit of four birds per day.
There will also be changes to start times and the species that can be hunted, the Game Management Authority said.
The blue-winged shoveler and hardhead species, recently listed as threatened, are not allowed to be hunted.
The changes to the 2023 season were informed by concerns regarding rates of wounding ducks, poor behaviour by some hunters and that bird habitats are in environmental decline, the government body said.
Animal advocates and shooters unhappy with the decision
The RSPCA and Wildlife Victoria were quick to voice their disappointment the duck hunting season will proceed, saying thousands of native ducks will suffer.
Regardless of a reduced season length of 35 days, approximately 87,000 birds would be killed and up to 35,000 wounded and left to die, RSPCA Victoria head Dr Liz Walker said.
"The research indicates that two in three Victorians oppose it," she said.
Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell said she was at her "wit's end".
She told ABC Radio Melbourne she had been asking the government for a decision all week and it was a classic move to release its decision on a Friday afternoon to attract minimal attention.
There were lawless shooters who would "make an absolute bloodbath" of the native wildlife, Ms Purcell said.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Jeff Bourman said he was "very, very unhappy" with the government's decision to shorten the season to just over a month and reduce the bag limit.
He said the government was ignoring scientific evidence that declining duck numbers had been caused by drought, not hunting.
Mr Bourman disputed Ms Purcell's claim of shooter lawlessness, saying the vast majority did the right thing.
Hunters must complete a Waterfowl Identification Test as well as hold a valid game and firearms licence before being permitted to hunt ducks.
Irresponsible behaviour and illegal hunting can be reported to the Game Management Authority via its website or by contacting police.
Illegal behaviour includes hunting threatened or protected wildlife, hunting in prohibited areas, hunting outside the designated season dates and times, use of toxic shot and failing to immediately retrieve a shot bird.
Inquiry to examine bird hunting impacts
As this year's duck hunting season was confirmed, the government simultaneously announced plans to establish a parliamentary body to examine the social and economic impacts of duck hunting.
The government will introduce a motion in the upper house of parliament to establish the committee during the next sitting week, and if it passes, a report will be tabled by August 31.
The process will include public hearings from hunting associations, animal welfare groups, and regional communities.
The shortening of the duck shooting season to five weeks was a punishment of law-abiding hunters by a government looking to please city voters, the Liberal party said.
"Duck hunters are becoming the poster child of Labor's green crusade," Liberal party agriculture spokesperson Emma Kealy said.
