Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 11/02) - A new fur program will entice young Northerners to take a second look at a traditional trapping career.

"The intent is to provide producers with some sort of security before they go out on the land and before they set their traps," said John Colford, wildlife and fisheries resource development manager with the Department of Resources, Wildlife & Economic Development.

The new Fur Pricing Program (FPP) guarantees trappers a minimum advance on good quality pelts -- a sort of interim financing. It's a way the territorial government hopes will nurture the fur industry.

The traditional trapping lifestyle is disappearing. Trappers are getting older. Young people are passing the career over for secure jobs in diamond mines. The FPP makes trapping more attractive.

"It simply gives the trapper an opportunity to maintain a way of life while his fur is being sold," said Colford.

Before the program, trapping was a gamble. Trappers invested in a snow machine, traps, camping supplies and time. They trapped and skinned animals in bitter temperatures then delivered the pelts to the wildlife office.

The government officer paid the trapper for the fur but the settlement was arbitrary and unstable in many species. Seven species had guaranteed up-front prices. The fur was then sent to auction. If it commanded a higher bid then the trapper was paid the difference.

The new system will stabilize payments for every type of fur in the NWT.

A grizzly bear wasn't included in the old fur schedule. Last year a trapper might get an advance of $100 on a bear skin. The government then took the pelt, along with others, to a fur auction. If the bear skin sold for $400 then the government would pay the trapper the difference after the auction.

The new FPP guarantees the trapper $250 upon the fur's delivery to the RWED office and then the difference after the fur is sold and the cash comes from the auction house.

"The intent is to give you a bit of a bridge from the time you get the bear to the time that it sells at auction to the time the money comes back to the region from the auction house," said Colford. The new price guarantees are based on historical average fur prices.

Right now there are about 1,000 aging trappers in the NWT. The government hopes to lure younger trappers with the new scheme.

"There's no question that in the fur sector, we've lost participants," said Colford.

He explained that trapping can be done as a part-time activity.

It's something a worker can do on weekends or between two-week rotations at a mine.

The government's new program resembles forward payment schemes used in other producer industries. For instance, fishers know what price they are getting for their catch even before they set their nets. And farmers are guaranteed a wheat price before the product is sold.

Fur auctions are held in North Bay, Ont., British Columbia and the U.S. in mid-December, January, and March and May.

"If someone brings in a lynx on Nov. 15, it may not actually sell at auction until January," said Colford, so the trapper has a long wait for money.

Trapping season starts in late November and December. That's when the weather gets cold and the animals are furriest -- best for making for luxurious garments.

A rekindled desire for opulent, cuddly furs has led to pelts commanding higher prices at fur auctions over the last few years.