THE Bligh Government's ban from January 1 this year on trading of meat from kangaroos with body shots has been questioned by kangaroo industry representatives.
They say professional shooters already comply with federal regulations that demand kangaroos be killed humanely by a shot to the head.
The changes to Queensland's Com-mercial Macropod Management Progam make it unlawful to sell or buy kangaroos that have not been killed humanely by a shot to the head with a suitable firearm.
The changes also include fines of up to $16,500 for both shooters and dealers if the regulation is breached.
The Government says the changes have been introduced to improve the image of the kangaroo meat industry and "further stamp Queensland's reputation as a producer of safe, high quality meat" in a bid to help re-open the lucrative Russian market which was temporarily suspended in August last year.
Acting Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Andrew Fraser said it the regulation under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 meant the Bligh Government now had the legislative power to ensure only kangaroos killed by clean shots could be traded.
"Whilst it has always been necessary to harvest kangaroos in a humane manner, new management arrangements will make it unlawful to sell or buy kangaroos that have not been killed humanely by a shot to the head with a suitable firearm," Mr Fraser said.
"The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) will work closely with Safe Food Production Queensland and ensure compliance through inspections, investigations and, when necessary, enforcement," he said.
However, Kangaroo Industry Assoc-iation of Australia (KIAA) executive director John Kelly said the change had nothing to do with helping reopen the Russian market.
"All kangaroos that are shot are currently required by law to be taken out by head shots according to the code of practice which has been in existence for quite some time," Mr Kelly said.
"The industry has had a policy to do exactly that for some time in keeping with the federal code of practice."
The Federal Government's national code of practice for humane shooting of kangaroos and wallabies for commercial purposes, most recently endorsed in November 2008, states "a shooter must aim so as to hit the target kangaroo or wallaby in the brain" and that "a shooter must not aim so as to hit the target kangaroo or wallaby in any other part of the body than that specified above".
Other changes to Queensland regulations include tag numbers produced to match quota numbers and the amendment of harvest tags that will now define year, species, geographical zone and identification number.
Kangaroo harvest quotas for each year are set by DERM and endorsed by the Commonwealth Government.
They are based on population estimates stemming from aerial surveys each year.
Quotas are set at between 10 and 20 percent of the estimated population.
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