NZ Election 2008: Issues and policies affecting anglers

The next New Zealand election is due in November 2008. This topic:

• Highlights some of the conservation and environmental issues that affect anglers
• Provides links to the policies of the main political parties on these issues

The New Zealand Herald compared the environment policies compared of the eight parties in Parliament on 24 Oct 2008.

Members of the Board of the New Zealand Walking Access Commission were announced by the government on 14 October 2008. The Commission was established under the Walking Access Act 2008 which passed into law the previous week. The Commission will provide leadership on walking access issues, develop a national strategy, undertake mapping of walking access, provide information to the public, develop a code of responsible conduct, assist with dispute resolution, and negotiate new walking access.

The report of the Local Government and Environment Committee on the Walking Access Bill was published on 31 July 2008. To download the report as a pdf file, go to this Select Commitee Reports page at the NZ Parliament website.

Submissions on the Walking Access Bill included:

• Federation of Freshwater Anglers submission
• Fish & Game New Zealand position and submission
• Federated Farmers policy position

On 20 September 2008 the proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management was publicly notified and a call for submissions was made.

See Fish & Game New Zealand response to the draft release on 23 July 2008: F&G welcomes the release of the proposed policy for public consultation.

See the Green Party's response: Broken promise on water safety

The impact of dairy farming on river quality is the subject of some heated debate. See

• Fish & Game position statement
• Federated Farmers policy position statement on the Resource Management Act
• Recent news items outlined in NZ Fishing News

Biosecurity and government measures to prevent the spread of didymo are subjects of ongoing debate.

The Minister of Conservation agreed with a Fish & Game New Zealand submission to ban the use of felt soled wading boots for freshwater fishing. The ban has been approved and included in the proposed 2008/09 Anglers Notice for Fish and Game Regions effective from 1 October 2008, and applies to freshwater sports fishing anglers in all New Zealand waterways. Felt-soles have also been banned by DOC in the Taupo fishery.

See more information about didymo prevention and avoidance.

All policies

Environment policy

Outdoor recreation and conservation policies including:

- Freshwater Recreational Fishing

- Practical Access to Public Land

- Department of Conservation Reform

Green Party

Policy summaries

Environment policy

Conservation policy

Water policy

Tourism policy

All policy and policy commentary

Conservation and the Environment policy

Conservation Policy

Environment policy

Walking Access Bill

A report released 31 July 2008 can be downloaded from the Select Commitee Reports page at the NZ Parliament website.

A proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management released 23 July 2008

Outdoor Recreation discussion document

National Party policies include its:

- Environment policies

- Outdoor Recreational Policy and announcment

- Biosecurity policy (opens a pdf file)

Policies set out on the NZ First website include its:

- Biosecurity policy

- Environment and conservation

- Resource Management policy

Policies set out on the ACT website include:

- Climate Change policy

- Resource Managment policy

- Agriculture policy

Election policy statement

Maori Party website

See media releases about environmental issues

See an April 2008 media release about the Walking Access bill