Working with Others

Commercial Deer Recovery

Effectiveness

Commercial helicopter hunting achieves effective control in grassland and open-canopy forest, which includes large areas of the South Island.

Access to department managed areas for aerial recovery

A concession system is now in place for commercial helicopter recovery on public conservation lands. Public conservation land is open to commercial hunting unless a proper consideration of the legislative provisions establishes reasons for restrictions or closures. Restrictions are generally in respect of time periods allowed for aerial recovery and are usually dealt with by way of conditions in the concessions document. Reasons for limiting areas/time periods available may include:

• Where toxins are being used;
• Where there is high visitor use;
• Where there are risks to native wildlife;
• Where it is necessary to comply with a specified statutory strategy or plan.

Strategic direction

Commercial helicopter hunting will continue to fluctuate depending on the price of venison. The industry collapse predicted in the 1980s now seems unlikely to occur, however, because most operators have other sources of income and are able to move in and out of the deer recovery business as venison prices rise and fall.

The Department will periodically monitor the overall level of commercial deer recovery as well as monitoring ecosystem condition at priority sites. Where necessary, the Department will supplement control to maintain protection of indigenous biodiversity.

Recreational Hunting

Effectiveness of recreational hunting

Although recreational hunters kill large numbers of deer in total each year, recreational hunting provides less stringent control than commercial hunting. This is because recreational hunters tend to harvest deer from a few high-density populations without reducing deer densities to low enough levels to protect ecosystems from damage.

Recreational hunting is most effective in accessible areas that are close to a population centre, within 2-3 kilometres of a vehicle access point. In general, however, recreational hunting is not able to reduce deer densities to low enough levels to allow regeneration of palatable seedlings and saplings.

Regulation of recreational hunters

The department currently regulates recreational hunting by issuing hunting permits. Recreational hunters have open access to almost all public conservation lands with few restrictions on what deer they can kill and when they can kill them. Some restrictions do exist, however, for popular herds such as Fiordland wapiti and Blue Mountains fallow, where systems of ballots and bag limits are in place.

Proposals for hunter management

Many of the submissions from hunters and hunting groups argued for management of deer as game animal.

However, proposals for game management are based on two main assumptions that are not applicable to the New Zealand situation. These are that deer and the ecosystems they inhabit are at, or are close to, a stable equilibrium and that recreational hunting can be manipulated so as to maintain this equilibrium while improving the trophy potential of the deer herd.

The Department considers that setting up hunter managed areas would exacerbate existing problems by:

• perpetuating conflict between hunters and conservation managers over desirable goals and deer densities;
• risking fixing deer at current densities and restricting control to a few of the highest priority sites; and
• ignoring biodiversity decline in hunter-managed areas.

Strategic direction

The Department will continue to encourage recreational hunting where this does not affect the management of public conservation lands for conservation. The Department will not set up areas to be managed for recreational hunting and will not seek to devolve the issuing of hunting permits to a hunter organisation.

The Department will streamline the existing hunting permit system and where appropriate move to longer-term area wide permits.

In the longer-term, the Department will explore the option of removing the requirement for written hunting permits for deer entirely. This would require legislative change.

The status and management of existing recreational hunting areas will be reviewed as and when necessary in order to facilitate deer control to protect conservation values, as provided for in Part III of the Wild Animal Control Act.

Tangata Whenua

Working with Tangata Whenua

The department will consult and work closely with iwi Maori on the implementation of this policy statement.

Department's responsibilities

Section 4 of the Conservation Act 1987 requires the Department, in interpreting and administering that Act, to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. In working closely with Maori, the Department will be guided by the following principles:

• To consider whether active steps are needed to protect Maori interests;
• To avoid actions that would prevent the redress of claims;
• To avoid further Treaty breaches;
• To make informed decisions;
• To enable the government to govern.

Working with Ngai Tahu

As part of the Crown's settlement with Ngai Tahu the department is required to consult with Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu and to consider their views on "any programme to eradicate pests or other introduced species" where the areas in question are covered by the Deeds of Recognition.

Deer Farmers

Working with deer farmers

The department will work with deer farmers to reduce the risks of deer escaping and establishing new populations. Regulation of deer farming is under the Wild Animal Control Act which enables the Minister of Conservation to:

• Specify areas or places in which deer farming generally or farming of any particular species of deer is either prohibited or permitted;
• Specify fencing requirements for deer farming generally or for deer farming in specified areas or places;
• Regulate deer farming in areas where deer farming is permitted.

Prohibited and permitted areas

These are described in the Deer Farm Notice No. 4, 1986 (NZ Gazette 1986). Areas where deer farming is generally prohibited include parts of Northland, Auckland, North Coromandel, Mt Taranaki, Chatham Islands, and most offshore islands. The farming of certain species of deer such as sika deer is also prohibited outside defined areas.

No changes are currently planned to areas where farming of deer is generally prohibited.

Safari parks

Safari parks (sometimes referred to as Game Estates) are farms where income is derived from wild animals being hunted on the farm. Under the Wild Animal Control Act safari parks must have a permit from the Department of Conservation. The areas where deer may be held in safari parks are those specified for deer farming in the Deer Farm Notice No. 4, 1986. Other wild animals such as thar and chamois can only be held on safari parks where safari parks are within the feral range of those animals.

No changes are currently planned for requirements for holding deer and other wild animals in safari parks.

Strategic direction

The department intends to specify regulated and non-regulated areas for deer farming and is proposing to apply controls to deer farms in regulated areas, including enforcement of a 2m high fencing standard. Under these proposals deer farms will require a permit and an approved fence plan and the Department will need to be notified of any deer escapes. The Department will carry out periodic inspections of deer farm fences in regulated areas to check compliance with the fencing standard.

In areas specified as being non-regulated areas, the 1.7m high industry approved fencing standard will apply. No permit will be required from the department. However, the department may inspect deer farm fences if it suspects that they do not comply with the fencing standard.

Regulated and non-regulated areas, and associated fencing standards will be gazetted by the Department following consultation.

Other Agencies

Pest management strategies

Regional and national pest management strategies (RPMS and NPMS) are the primary mechanisms under the Biosecurity Act for coordinating pest management actions across lands of different tenure within a region and nationally.

Strategic direction

The Department will work closely with regional councils and the Animal Health Board where deer are included in pest management strategies. The department will encourage Regional Councils to include deer in Regional Pest Management Strategies (RPMS), particularly in deer-free areas where preventing farm escapes and illegal liberations and eradication of new populations should be given high priority.

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