Federated Farmers Southland said in a statement yesterday it was encouraging anyone wanting to shoot ducks in Southland this season to buy their licence from another region.
"We want to send a very clear message to Southland Fish & Game that we’re sick of their nonsense," Federated Farmers Southland president Jason Herrick said.
"Farmers have had an absolute guts-full of their anti-farming rhetoric and activism. We need them to start working with farmers instead of actively working against us.
"That’s why we’re encouraging all Southland shooters — not just farmers — to buy their licences outside of the district this season."
Mr Herrick said he wanted to see shooters buy their game bird licences from regions working constructively with farmers, such as Hawke’s Bay or Greater Wellington.
The licence boycott is the latest effort by Federated Farmers Southland to pull Fish & Game Southland into line, he said.
Last year, he called for farmers to stop buying fishing licences from Southland Fish & Game and to remove fishing access by taking down access signs.
Mr Herrick said he wanted to be very clear he was not asking shooters to boycott buying game bird licences — just to buy them from another region.
Fish & Game Southland council chairman Lindsay Withington said he was not surprised Mr Herrick had continued with his planned attacks on Fish & Game and tried to reignite his bullying campaign, "calling us anti-farming".
"He doesn’t seem to realise that half of our council are farmers and that our staff work with farmers on a daily basis," he said.
"We’ve met with Mr Herrick on a couple of occasions to try and address his concerns, and asked for examples, but he’s been unable or unprepared to provide any specifics.
"We’ve largely stayed out of the media on this, trying not to lend credibility to Mr Herrick’s crusade and frankly I’m disappointed his national organisation has been ineffective in causing him to conduct himself reasonably."
He said Mr Herrick’s actions had caused significant conflict in some areas of Northern Southland, and recently a fishing guide and his client were allegedly assaulted and abused near a river.
"We’ve had complaints from hotels, cafes, Airbnbs and fishing guides, who have all lost significant business. Tourist anglers have told us they’re not coming back. The Northern Southland community has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars over this.
"To me this seems little more than the personal political aspirations of one individual, but at what cost to our community?"
Fish & Game had the support of Southland District Council Mayor Rob Scott and Southland MP Joseph Mooney in re-establishing its signs, which it would now set about doing, he said.
"We can only hope that nationally Federated Farmers recognise the ongoing damage these actions are causing their organisation’s standing in our society and call a stop to the incitement of hostility against anglers and hunters, whether they’re locals or tourists."
