The situation echoes a shipping debacle several years ago when the old Agriculture and Forestry Ministry became the Primary Industries Ministry.
Chinese authorities blocked New Zealand meat exports because of a name change on an export certificate.
The Conservation Department verifies all game animal shipments comply with Cites, an international convention on the trade of endangered species.
Until recently, all export certificates carried a Cites stamp and the DOC logo.
A velvet exporter airfreighting to Japan is among the exporters being refused entry because a change in DOC policy.
The exporter whose product was detained at a Japanese airport said DOC removed the Cites stamp from certificates without consulting trading partners like Japan and the United States.
“It’s been stopped. It does look like somebody’s forgotten to stamp the certificate.”
Speaking from the Japan, the trader said DOC assumed it could it deal with any problems as they arose.
“The people (in Japan), they couldn’t believe how disorganised the Department of Conservation were.
“The normal procedure is to let the international authorities know and then change the stamps.”
But it appeared there was no official contact with Japan over the policy change.
Nor was there reasonable consultation with exporters.
DOC’s national compliance manager issued the exporter with a letter vouching for the detained shipment but it is not a permanent fix for game products.
“DOC is saying the Cites certificate is under internal review.”
Figures provided by another game products exporter indicated DOC issued 3200 export certificates last year.
In recent years more than half of the trade has been in trophies, furs and skins with the remainder generally in velvet or meat.
DOC national compliance manager Marta Lang said the deer velvet in Japan is not listed as an endangered species by Cites so can enter the country.
The department provided the exporter with a certificate of export informing overseas customs agencies the deer velvet did not come from an endangered species listed under Cites.
“DOC has changed the letterhead on the certificate.
“On Friday May 25 we provided (the exporter) with a letter explaining the change for them to present to Japanese Customs,” Lang said.
Game Animal Council member Roger Duxfield said the council is extremely worried and aware of the impact of the certification problems.
The council is a statutory body formed in 2012 as part a coalition government agreement between National and then United First leader Peter Dunne.
“You can’t afford to have a change in DOCumentation and have product held up at the border, in the States, in Europe or wherever it’s going.”
Officially, the council is also a regulatory body for the management of game animals but DOC controls its funding so tightly that appointees pay for their own travel to board meetings and for office supplies.
“We went in as a governance body and ended up as volunteer labour.”
If better funded, the council is more than happy to handle products that needed certification, he said.
The domestic game management system is also flawed, Duxfield said.
Unlike commercial game businesses, non-residents can go hunting in NZ on DOC estates and ship game home virtually free.
“They just go up to the desk and ask for the appropriate paperwork from DOC and pay their $47.50.
“There’s no filter.
“There’s nowhere else in the world where you can come into the country with a firearm and not pay some management group.”
Duxfield said the existing legislation governing the Game Animal Council is fraught with difficulties in funding mechanisms and where it’s empowered to act.
“It was the intention at the start (for the council) to manage game species on public land.”
The council was also meant to work out a sustainable level of game animals and control them on that basis, he said.
Cites – the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – is an international agreement to protect endangered wild animals and plants.
Its aim is to ensure international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
Roughly 5000 species of endangered animals and 29,000 species of endangered plants are listed as protected species by Cites.
