Animal Welfare Act review 2012

Introduction

In August 2012 the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) released a discussion paper, Animal welfare matters. Proposals for a New Zealand Animal Welfare Strategy and amendments to the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

In September 2012 the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council (NZSFC) submitted that animal welfare does matter. Also, that it was important to rely more on science-based assessment rather than emotive or animal rights based assessment of welfare of animals and proposals for welfare legislation. 

The Council believes there are welfare gains to be made with better catching, handling and dispatch of fish caught by amateur fishers. 

FishCare

The Council and LegaSea supporters are working on a Best Practice Guide to help educate fishers to take a responsible approach to animal welfare and to make good use of the fish they catch and keep. 

As a first stage in developing the guide and to inform this submission the Council commissioned a nationwide survey of people’s attitudes to animal welfare and fish. There were 2581 survey respondents. The results show that most fishers would read a guide and would change their behaviour to achieve better welfare outcomes for fish. 

The feedback from the survey has informed the development of FishCare – The school of best practice. The project promotes best practice techniques to help recreational fishers reduce their impact on our marine environment.

Relevant information

2013

Submission

2012

Submission

Proposal