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FIELD and Game Australia says duck meat sourced from the Heart Morass wetlands is still on the menu. This is despite an Environment Protection Authority warning that ducks, eels and fish from the wetlands should not be eaten until further investigations give them the all-clear. The duck hunting season, which begins this year on March 17, is a major source of income for Field and Game Australia, which owns and manages a large section of the ecologically diverse wetlands. The association’s Gary Howard said members would be advised only to eat the breasts of birds shot at Heart Morass this season, and would be made aware of the “very low” risks . “We won’t be telling shooters not to eat duck meat, because we still believe that the Department of Defence’s testing of 10 ducks that were not confined to Heart Morass does not equal good scientific evidence,” he said. “But as a precaution, we will suggest they do not to eat the livers or the skin, which has been shown to contain the higher levels of PFAS.” Game Management Authority chairman Brian Hine said last week that under new regulations, hunters would now be required to retrieve all game ducks that they shot and would be required to at least salvage the breast meat from a duck “to ensure that harvested game is not wasted”. The EPA, however, maintains its advice not to eat ducks, or any other animals from the Heart Morass. EPA Gippsland manager Stephen Lansdell said his organisation continued to warn hunters and fishers not to eat eels, carp or ducks taken from the morass. In October, the EPA advised against consumption of ducks given the high concentrations of PFAS in ducks tested from the Heart Morass wetlands adjacent to the RAAF Base, East Sale. “This is a complex issue, and EPA is working with other agencies to address it,” he said. Mr Lansdell said an interagency group, led by EPA Victoria, would develop a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life, including nomadic and resident ducks. This testing will include other chemicals and metals of general concern to the community. He said the Defence Department had been cooperating with EPA to make results of its testing available, and the EPA had audited the results to assure accuracy. “The latest analysis of Department of Defence testing, which was released in December 2017, does not alter EPA’s advice on wildlife consumption,” Mr Lansdell added. Mr Howard said Field and Game Australia expected a reduction in the numbers of shooters at Heart Morass this season because of the EPA warning, and this could reduce its funds for wetlands management and upkeep. That news was welcomed by well-known veteran anti-hunting protestor Laurie Levy, who has fought to stop duck hunting for more than 30 years. “There shouldn’t be a duck season at all this year; it’s a good reason to stop it,” he said. Mr Levy said changes to this year’s duck hunting season due to “appalling cruelty” and misbehaviour of some shooters, were also a small step towards banning the practice. The first two days of the season will begin at 9am and 8am this year, after some shooters fired off early last year and the Game Management Authority found that at least 260 protected birds were illegally shot at Koorangie State Game Reserve. But Mr Howard said shooters at the membersonly Heart Morass were well disciplined, and not involved in misbehaviour. He blamed problems at other hunting wetlands on enforcement problems, after health and safety regulations were brought in several years ago to stop enforcement officers from entering the water. “If you get rogue shooters who know they can get away with doing the wrong thing because no one is there to stop them, then that’s what happens,” he said. “But we don’t get that here in Sale.”

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