Animal activists in Tasmania have staged an unusual protest on the first day of the duck hunting season, donning pink tutus in the middle of a lake.

As duck shooters were loading up their guns at dawn, six dancers pulled on their ballet shoes, tutus and pink hard hats.

About 40 protesters travelled to Moulting Lagoon on the state's east coast for an on-water, performance mimicking Swan Lake.

Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service did not approve the activity and said the activists risked arrest.

Loading

But six dancers launched into their own version of the classical ballet on a floating makeshift stage while their companions held a banner behind them.

Activists have targeted the lake for many years.

Organiser Yvette Watt said this year's action was a way of countering the masculine stereotype of duck hunting.

"The idea of Moulting Lagoon and sort of Swan Lake ... and the blokey-ness of the whole thing with the shooters and their camo and their guns just made me want to do something that countered that," she said.

But she said the protest had a serious side.

"One of the reasons that Parks are [urging] us not to do this is that it would cause environmental damage and yet here we have people shooting the wildlife on what is World Wildlife Day today and the 100th anniversary of the Freycinet National Park," Ms Watt said.

Hunters urge protesters to play by the rules

President of Field Hunting and Conservation Tasmania Peter Darke said he was not against the land protest for which the group had permission.

But he said the activists were not observing the rules.

"Everybody has a right to protest as long as it is done in the right way," he said.

"Once they enter that wetland, that's another issue.

"There was a protester injured accidentally in Victoria a couple of years ago, that person was where they should not have been."

Mr Darke said Victorian authorities had introduced a 25-metre buffer zone to keep protesters away from the edge of a wetland throughout the hunting season.

"That's the way is it should be for everyone's safety," he said.

"The hunters are there legitimately, they pay a lot of fees, they have their hides registered, they have a test so they can identify birds, they are rightful users of that wetland during the duck season."

The duck shooting season runs until early June.