North Canterbury Game Bird Regulation Recommendations

Staff are tasked to propose regulation changes to better achieve Council goals and priorities. Specifically, each of these regulation changes aim to better achieve some or all of the following Council criteria for regulations:

• ensure our species are harvested sustainably by our licence holders
• promote participation
• are consistent with the ethics of Fish and Game New Zealand
• are easily understood and clearly enforceable in court
• are consistent with other Fish and Game regions where possible.

*Greylard is the combined name used for mallards and grey ducks and any hybrid of the two

PROPOSED GAME BIRD REGULATION ADJUSTMENTS

1) Set Opening Weekend greylard bag limit to 15

This regulation change would have a little effect on North Canterbury hunters or harvest. Between 2015-2023 approximately 4.8% of Opening Weekend hunts recorded in the game bird harvest survey would have been impacted by this change in bag limit (i.e., hunters did not shoot more than 15 greylards). Therefore, the vast majority of hunters would not be impacted by this regulation adjustment, which helps improve sustainability, public perception of ethical behaviour, and social licence.

2) Set regular season paradise shelduck limit to 15

This regulation change will not have an impact on paradise shelduck harvest or hunters in North Canterbury.

Less than 0.01% of hunts recorded in the game bird harvest survey between 2015-2023 would have been impacted by this regulation change. It is an extremely rare occurrence for a duck hunter to target paradise shelducks and shoot more than 15 in a hunt in North Canterbury in the May-July season.

3) Set the summer season paradise shelduck limit to 15 in Area B

This bag limit simplifies regulations as the bag limit is 15 in Area A. There is no justification for differential bag limits between the two areas.

4) Align the end the paradise shelduck regular season in Area B to the end of July

There is no justification for differential regulations in Area A and B for paradise shelduck season length. There is little participation in the extended paradise shelduck season as documented in the hunter harvest survey.

5) Align the pukeko season to end at the same time as quail season (end of August)

There is little participation in pukeko hunting in North Canterbury, with no need to extend the season past other game bird hunting seasons.

If you would like to make a submission on these proposed game bird regulation recommendations please email [email protected] by the end of the day on September 1st. 

If you would like to speak to your submission there will be a public meeting held at 6pm on Wednesday, September 4th at the North Canterbury Fish and Game Office 595 Johns Road, Harewood.