Wildlife Act 1953

General provisions - Offences and penalties

63B: Reporting of accidental or incidental death or injury

You could also call this:

"Tell someone in charge if you accidentally hurt or kill marine animals while fishing"

If you are fishing with a permit, licence, authority, or approval under the Fisheries Act 1996 and you accidentally kill or injure marine wildlife, you must report it. You have to write down what happened in a log if you are on a boat, and then tell a ranger or another person in charge within 48 hours of getting back to port.

If you are not on a boat, you have to tell a ranger or another person in charge as soon as you can. You need to say where it happened, what type of marine wildlife was affected, and what the circumstances were.

If you accidentally kill or injure marine wildlife in any other way, you also have to tell a ranger or a fishery officer as soon as you can. They might ask you for more information about what happened.

You can get in trouble if you do not report killing or injuring marine wildlife when you are supposed to, and you might have to pay a penalty as set out in section 67(fb).

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on 24 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM278147.

Topics:

Environment and resources > Conservation

63A: Taking of absolutely or partially protected marine wildlife, or

"Rules for protecting marine animals in New Zealand"

64: Offences in relation to wildlife sanctuaries, or

"Breaking rules about wildlife sanctuaries is against the law"

Part 5General provisions
Offences and penalties

63BReporting of accidental or incidental death or injury

If any person, in the course of fishing pursuant to a permit, licence, authority, or approval issued, granted, or given under the Fisheries Act 1996, accidentally or incidentally kills or injures any marine wildlife, he or she shall,—
if fishing from a vessel, record the event in the vessel's log and report the event in writing to a ranger, or to such other person as the Director-General may from time to time specify by notice in the Gazette, and in such manner as may be so specified, not later than 48 hours after the arrival of the vessel in port; and
in any other case, report the event in writing to a ranger, or to such other person as the Director-General may from time to time specify by notice in the Gazette, and in such manner as may be so specified, as soon as practicable.

Any person (other than a person to whom subsection (1) applies) who, by any means whatever, accidentally or incidentally kills or injures any marine wildlife, shall, as soon as practicable, report the event to a ranger or a fishery officer (as defined in section 2(1) of the Fisheries Act 1996).
Every report under subsection (1) or subsection (2) shall include—
the location of the area where the event took place; and
the species (if known) of the marine wildlife killed or injured, or a general description of the wildlife; and
a description of the conditions and the circumstances of the event.

In addition to providing the particulars required by subsection (1) or subsection (2), a person required to report an event to which that subsection applies shall provide to the Director-General such other particulars relating to the event as the Director-General may require for the purposes of this Act.
Every person who contravenes subsection (1) or subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to the penalty set out in section 67(fb).

Notes

Section 63B: inserted, on 1 October 1996, by section 316(1) of the Fisheries Act 1996 (1996 No 88).
Section 63B(5): replaced, on 15 October 2000, by section 8 of the Wildlife (Penalties and Related Matters) Amendment Act 2000 (2000 No 43).