Thread: mallard releases

Paul Stenning
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Duck Farming
Yesterday at 10:13pm Being born into a very serious trout fishing family I was brought up on a diet of the evils of trout farming and the impending doom that would result from it happening in New Zealand .... disease .... poaching .... pollution ... genetic risks etc. etc. ... basically a few people wanting to put a wild fishery at risk to line their pockets under the disguise of doing some good for the country? My dad was involved in fighting trout farming in the past and I have continued that fight to keep NZ a pristine wild trout fishery ... it's an risk that will never go away but the old Acclimatisation Society and now Fish and game have a done a great fighting the farming of an acclimatised species!

How come then the farming and sale of Mallards is so excepted in not only the wider hunting community but by Fish and Game regions around the country? There is just as much evidence from overseas about the risks of captive reared Mallards on wild populations as there is on the risk of trout farming! Disease .... poor genetics ..... poaching etc. etc.

Under the guise of helping struggling Mallard populations we might be going down a very risky road not only to the health of our in some regions already struggling Mallard populations but creating an salable item from a what is supposed to be a public resource.

I am interested in everyone else's opinions?

cough bullshit cough

Permits to release captive-reared waterfowl are the responsibility of the Department of Conservation, and thus there is no statutory requirement for Fish & Game to be involved with or even notified of any such releases

its niether widespread nor acceptedly only maybe by aw eastern so by proxy hb but you cant sell them.

Most transfers should be of birds to other authorised permit holders, e.g. Fish & Game councils for the purpose of liberation and population enhancement, and perhaps licensed game preserves. It is noted on the authorisations that all birds, eggs and progeny remain the property of the Crown.

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so you,ve been giving eastern and your national chairman an earful at national level paul??

Under the guise of helping struggling Mallard populations we might be going down a very risky road not only to the health of our in some regions already struggling Mallard populations but creating an salable item from a what is supposed to be a public resource

Rearing and releasing programmes are often viewed as a quick fix solution to creating more ducks.
To date, both internationally and in the Waikato results have been mixed. In general harvest rates
are low for captive-reared ducks released into the wild. In the Waikato results have varied from less
than 1% in a wetland area to 22% on Matingarahi Station where a concerted effort was made to
feed the birds and control predators. In addition, captive-reared mallards have typically been shot
on the property where they were released, and thus the returns are highly localised.
man dont yopu read other councils stuff paul