NEW kangaroo harvest zones and barcodes replaced by QR codes on tags has been confirmed for 2025.
Loddon Shire is now in the Loddon Malle region, one of five new zones, with a harvest quota of 49,500 for the year.
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action says the region’s kangaroo population is estimated at 495,000.
Professional kangaroo shooter, Glenn Cole, of Newbridge, believes the new zones will be better for planning of harvests.
But he says local information pointed to a growing kangaroo population problem in the Loddon Shire.
“Everyone I talk to points to the number of roos - it keeps expanding and it’s getting worse and worse,” Mr Cole said.
“There are paddocks around here where mobs have never been seen before and now there are 150 and more only 50 metres from the road.
“In and around towns, the dry conditions have brought kangaroos closer to houses.
“Anyone who says the roo population is in decline is using a flawed system when it comes to our part of the state.
Mr Cole said reports of large numbers of kangaroos had come from the district between Newbridge and Newstead and also Logan.
He said this year’s Victorian harvest quota of 207,800 “is about all processors will be able to handle and the markets that are available for the products”.
DEECA said the 2024 aerial survey showed only a slight decline in overall abundance of grey kangaroos in comparison to the 2022 survey “which is a statistically insignificant change that is well within margin of error of the survey methodology. 
“Spatial patterns and temporal trends in abundance of Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos across the state will be more thoroughly assessed in the associated report which fully details the results of the 2024 aerial survey and the analyses that were used to derive the abundance estimates used for quota-setting in this report.
“It is important to note that this report is written to support quota decision-making following two major changes to the Kangaroo Harvesting Program in Victoria. Firstly, the zoning system has changed to include five zones only, as opposed to the seven zones used in previous years. This means that comparison of abundance and quota figures between this report and previous reports is not straightforward. Furthermore, the method used to estimate abundance has changed from the earlier design-based approach to a model-based approach, based on recent research that demonstrate several advantages of the latter including improved precision of abundance estimation and the ability to infer abundances for arbitrarily defined geographic areas within the study area.”
The Loddon Mallee zone stretches from Castlemaine to Mildura and also includes Buloke and Gannawarra shires.