Following an abortive attempt to develop an oceans policy in the early 2000s this article assesses whether, in 2020, New Zealand still needs a national oceans policy. It provides a critical examination of New Zealand’s current ocean governance regime which is fragmented across multiple statutes and institutions and largely fails to implement an ecosystem approach to oceans management. After providing an overview of the previous attempt to establish an oceans policy this article compares the experiences of developing oceans policies in Canada and Australia and draws key lessons that New Zealand could benefit from. This article identifies the core reasons as to why New Zealand oceans governance would benefit from developing an overarching oceans policy and concludes with a sketch as to recommended core components of that policy drawing on principles and concepts which currently underpin New Zealand oceans governance as well as international best practice.