General News
20 November, 2025
Research satellites take flight
NEW research has started to better understand the movements, survival and behaviour of Victoria’s most important game duck species.
Game Management Authority and Deakin University are attaching small solar-powered satellite tracking devices to more than 400 individual game ducks from four game duck species over three years.
Species to be fitted with the trackers are Pacific Black Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Grey Teal and Chestnut Teal.
The lightweight tracking devices capture information about the duck’s location, movement, breeding, feeding and resting patterns 24 hours a day and will send the information to GMA and Deakin University researchers via mobile phone network. GMA research principal Dr Jason Flesch said this was the largest study of the movement and survivorship of game ducks undertaken in Australia.
“This project aims to identify the drivers of game duck movement in relation to fluctuating environmental conditions, including water availability, in the Australian landscape,” he said. It will also record how long game ducks survive,” Dr Flesch said.
“This vital knowledge will be used with other research to inform Adaptive Harvest Management of game ducks in Victoria, which is being implemented to ensure duck hunting in Victoria remains sustainable.”
GMA and Deakin say the benefits of the research will extend beyond hunting.
Deakin University Professor Marcel Klaassen said the knowledge gained from this research will also be used to grow our understanding on the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, such as avian influenza and Japanese encephalitis.
“By modelling game duck movements, we will, for instance, be able to predict how the highly pathogenic form of avian influenza currently impacting wildlife and poultry populations globally may spread, should it arrive in Australia,” said Professor Klaassen.
The research and will continue to 2028.