Harvest of happiness
THE commercial mutton bird season is underway with Aboriginal harvesters making their annual pilgrimage to the Bass Strait islands.
Mutton bird numbers have rebounded after a dire breeding season in 2014 when harvesting at Tasmania’s largest shearwater colony — Babel Island — was called off.
Michael Mansell has been on the island, off Flinders Island, for a fortnight and he and his crew are not only harvesting but also dining on freshly caught birds.
Mr Mansell said about 100 harvesters were camping out on Babel, Big Dog and Trefoil islands for the month-long harvest.
“We are eating three or four birds a day. They are not to everyone’s taste but we love them,” Mr Mansell said.
The mutton birders will stay on the island until the season finishes at the end of April.
“Bird numbers have certainly bounced back,” he said.
“They have been getting a lot of feed and the water temperature appears to have been good so the birds have been able to feed around the island rather than head further afield.
“There are lots of adult birds coming in of a night which is good and plenty of burrows containing millions of chicks.”
Back in 2014, there were under 40 chicks in 523 burrows on Babel Island and the harvest was suspended to let the population recover.
About 10,000 mutton birds are expected to be caught and plucked this season.
Those birds fetch about $10 each, and Mr Mansell said nobody expected to get rich off mutton birding.
“You have to harvest in isolated areas and it costs enormous amounts of money to get supplies over to the islands and back and to run diesel generators.”
But the annual harvest about more than money.
“It is one of the few times we get together in a happy way. There is a lot of hard work but also a lot of banter and laughs. It is dirty and snakey but rewarding and an important part of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture.”
There are also 43 colonies where recreational harvesters can operate, including islands in the King Island Group, the Hunter Group, the Furneaux Group and Cape Sorell.
The harvesting season from March 17 to April 30. is is