The proposed changes, which were presented at the council's meeting held in Dunedin yesterday, involved introducing seven new licence categories, including dual hunting and fishing licences, family whole-season passes and discounted licences for people over the age of 65.
The move to make the changes comes amid increasing dissatisfaction over the value for money of licences, with a survey, presented at the meeting, of 900 anglers showing the proportion who thought fish licences were ''good value for money'' had dropped from 67% in November 2010 to 52% 18 months later.
However, many of those surveyed said they would be happier if they had the option to chose from one of the new licences.
The council was also shown a model which suggested the changes would result in a small increase in revenue both nationally and in the Otago region. This was because the decrease in revenue associated with discounting senior rates would be offset by others upgrading to more expensive licences.
There was unanimous support at the meeting for a motion supporting the motion and asking Fish and Game New Zealand to support it with a comprehensive communications strategy.
Council member Ray Grubb said he would like to see all the new categories adopted.
''This is a significant improvement on what we have now and is supported by hard evidence, which we don't often see,'' Mr Grubb said.
Council member Dave Witherow also strongly supported the changes, saying this was probably ''a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity'' to make such significant changes to the licence system.
There was also agreement that introducing a new licence category for people who only fished in one region should be the first priority for the national body.
Mr Witherow said it was unfair that people who only fished where they lived paid the same as those who fished around the whole country.
The council passed a separate motion asking that the national body increase pressure on the Government to allow a separate more expensive licence for foreign anglers.
