Kangaroo survey takes to the sky
South Australia’s regional kangaroo populations will be surveyed once-again with a light aircraft taking to the sky, an operation that’s been undertaken for the past 43 years.
Department for Environment and Water (DEW) staff will undertake the aerial survey beginning Monday 21 June and continue until Friday 9 July to estimate kangaroo populations across the South Australian landscape.
During this time, a Cessna 206 will fly east-west survey transects at a low level across parts of the State.
DEW Senior Kangaroo Ecologist, Dr Amanda McLean, said the aerial survey will include the North Flinders, Marree inside Dog Fence, Marree outside Dog Fence, North East Pastoral, Eastern Districts, South Flinders, Eyre West and Eyre East harvest sub-regions.
“The survey allows the department to determine kangaroo response to the recent drought over the pastoral land as well as in the wetter agricultural areas.
“An additional survey over parts of the recently opened Southern Agricultural Harvest Region is planned for September when the weather is more suitable”, Dr McLean said.
DEW supplements the aerial survey with predictive population models to determine kangaroo harvest quotas for the five harvest regions across the State.
This is the second year that the Southern Agricultural Harvest Region has been opened for commercial kangaroo harvesting with the expansion already considered a success.
“The opening of the Southern Agricultural Harvest Region has been a win-win for both the kangaroo industry, who can now access more land and, landholders in the region, who have been provided with assistance in managing kangaroo numbers on their properties”, said Dr McLean.
More information about kangaroo management can be found at https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/plants-and-animals/Abundant_species/kangaroo-conservation-and-management
