This note is not part of the notice, but is intended to indicate its general effect.

This notice comes into force on the 28th day after the date of its notification in the Gazette. Schedule 3 of the Wildlife Act 1953 lists wildlife that is protected unless the Minister of Conservation declares in a notice that specified wildlife may be hunted or killed or possessed and the conditions under which the wildlife may be hunted or killed or possessed. This notice specifies the circumstances in which a person may hunt or kill or possess certain wildlife in the Chatham Islands.

Clause 3 sets out definitions of the wildlife to which this notice applies.

Clause 4 specifies that the notice applies only in the Chatham Islands and imposes conditions on the hunting or killing or possessing of the wildlife and its removal from the Islands.

Clause 5 permits the hunting or killing or possessing of black swan, grey duck, mallard duck, pūkeko, or weka in accordance with the conditions that the notice imposes.

Clause 6(1) limits the period in any year during which grey duck, mallard duck, and pūkeko may be hunted or killed or possessed (from the first Saturday of May to the close of 30 June). Clause 6(2) permits black swan and weka to be hunted or killed or possessed at any time of the year.

Clause 7(1) prohibits a person from taking or possessing the eggs of grey duck, mallard duck, pūkeko, and weka. It also prohibits any person from disturbing, destroying, or possessing the nests of grey duck, mallard duck, or pūkeko. Clause 7(2) states (for the avoidance of doubt) that a person may at any time take and possess the eggs of black swan or disturb, destroy, or possess their nests.

Clause 8 permits a person to hunt black swan, grey duck, mallard duck, or pūkeko, but only by using a shotgun. Live birds must not be used as decoys to hunt these birds. In addition, on and from 1 May 2016, lead shot must not be used to hunt the birds if the person is within 200 metres of open water (as defined in subclause (4)). This prohibition is to prevent the accumulation of lead in water bodies and in the flesh of waterfowl.

Clause 9 prohibits people from selling black swan, grey duck, mallard duck, pūkeko, and weka unless the Minister of Conservation approves the sale in writing.

Clause 10 permits a person to remove from the Chatham Islands, at any one time, a limited number of black swan, grey duck, or mallard duck or black swan eggs. The person must accompany the birds or eggs from the Chatham Islands and, in the case of grey duck and mallard duck, may only do so within 28 days of the expiry of the period in which the birds may be hunted or killed or possessed in accordance with clause 6.

Clause 11 revokes the Chatham Islands (Wildlife) Notice 1977.

Under section 6(3) of the Wildlife Act 1953, a person who acts other than in accordance with this notice commits an offence against that Act and is liable on conviction to the penalty set out in section 67F(3) of that Act.