A POPULAR Wimmera lake will miss out on tourism opportunities after the Game Management Authority announced it would be closed for duck hunting this season.
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Lake Lonsdale near Stawell will not open for duck season this year due to the large number of freckled and blue-billed ducks in the area.
Duck hunting season will officially open on Saturday and run until June 11.
Lake Lonsdale Action Group president Ray Howard said while the lake being closed was disappointing for the region, he hoped hunters would still visit other nearby wetlands.
“Any influx of visitors helps the community, especially at Lake Lonsdale, so it is a blow for the area that it’s closed,” he said.
“Duck hunting brings people to the region, and they will often come back to the lake later on in the year to fish or to go camping.
“When there is water around, like there is at the moment, we do get quite a lot of hunters coming for the season.”
Mr Howard said many other wetlands in the region had water and would be open for duck hunting.
“There is still good duck numbers around, so hopefully Lake Lonsdale being closed won’t hurt the area too much,” he said.
Lake Muirhead State Game reserve, south-west of Ararat, and Browns Lake, near Donald, will also be closed this season.
Game Management Authority chief executive Greg Hyams said closing wetlands during duck season ensured threatened species were protected.
“Through closing wetlands where appropriate and paying close attention to bird numbers we are able to ensure that rare and threatened species are protected,” he said.
“This year, we will have significant numbers of staff on the ground.”
Representatives from the authority, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victorian Fisheries Authority, Parks Victoria and Victoria Police will be active and monitoring wetlands across the state.