Hunting and fishing: game animals, access and Fish & Game

• Formally recognise introduced species that have recreational, economic, environmental or cultural value
• Establish a coordinated wild animal management framework across the current mix of laws and agencies
• Pass legislation to modernise Fish & Game New Zealand
• Open suitable LINZ-managed Crown land to recreational hunting and fishing
• Add the Game Animal Council, Land Information New Zealand and the Overseas Investment Office to the Access Charter
• Replace an existing Conservation Authority and Conservation Board seat with a hunting and fishing representative

The document describes wild animals as managed through a fragmented set of laws, agencies and plans, with responsibilities often unclear and valued species sometimes treated simply as pests. It would recognise in law species providing recreational, economic, environmental or cultural value — while saying action would still be taken where populations cause unacceptable environmental damage, managed to local conditions.

Legislation would simplify Fish & Game’s administration, strengthen its accountability to licence holders, and direct resources to the regions, habitats and fisheries the document says need them most. Fish and Game regions would also be told to review their boundaries to align with the Government’s Resource Management Act and local government reforms.

Two herds — wapiti and sika — were designated this term under the Game Animal Council (Herds of Special Interest) Amendment Act 2026. National would seek proposals for more on that model, saying selections would be evidence-based and require strong local and hunter support, and would replace the Tahr Control Plan 1993 with a plan developed alongside the tahr hunting community.

The current policy generally prevents recreational hunting on Crown land managed by Land Information New Zealand. National would change that, opening suitable land that would ordinarily be publicly accessible under rules similar to public conservation land. The document is explicit that Crown pastoral leases and other land not ordinarily publicly accessible would be unaffected.

It would promote New Zealand’s guided-hunting offer in overseas markets and simplify trophy-export permits, veterinary certification, taxidermy requirements and customs processes, alongside clearer rules distinguishing recreational, guided and aerial hunting from commercial wild animal recovery.

A set of further commitments sits at the end of the document.

• Investigate sustainable funding for national hunter training, with the Firearms Safety Authority
• Partner with DOC and community organisations on public conservation huts and facilities
• Feed Outdoor Access Commission maps into the new planning and environmental system
• Move shooting range consenting to a risk-based approach, with a right to operate where nobody could later complain
• Pilot a government-backed biodiversity credit recognising hunter-led conservation