Yellowknife (Feb 18/05) - Hunting outfitters are up in arms about a recently tabled plan that may spell the demise of their business, plus greatly restrict the number of caribou that non-aboriginal residents can harvest. <

The Bathurst Caribou Management Plan was tabled in the legislative assembly, Monday. BR>

Outfitter Boyd Warner says he will sue the government if they try to take away his quota.

It's the culmination of four years of studies by a joint committee of NWT and Nunavut hunter and trapper associations, First Nations, and federal and territorial government representatives.

The plan states that if Bathurst caribou numbers become low, the resident hunter harvest should be reduced potentially to zero, outfitter harvesting should be prohibited along with commercial meat sales, and no hunting corridors be established along winter roads.

The plan makes no mention of what the committee's definition of "low" is, but does report that the Bathurst herd - estimated at 186,000 animals - is in decline.

Outfitter Jim Peterson said if the plan were implemented it could potentially wipe out a business he has been operating for 20 years.

$6 million in revenue

The past-president of the NWT Arctic Tourism Association owns Peterson's Point Lake Lodge at Point Lake, about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife, where dozens of big-game hunters - mainly Americans - venture every year.

He said caribou hunting in the NWT generates about $6 million in revenue every year.

"Never once have they ever invited us to the table to hear our input," said Peterson.

"Really, outfitters are on the bottom of the pile when it comes to anything."

Peterson said he supports the conservation of caribou, but finds it hard to support a plan that has left outfitters in the dark.

"One of the problems that I've had is that (the government) has never made it mandatory for the aboriginal people to report what they've killed," said Peterson.

"Nobody knows the numbers they're taking out there. If you're going to manage the herd properly that's one of the things you should do."

In the event that caribou numbers become low, the plan calls for setting a total allowable harvest for aboriginal hunters, something that doesn't exist right now.

Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Brendan Bell said the government will look at the strength of the herd before imposing any hunting restrictions on it.

"If we're able to manage this resource adequately then we won't have to have hunting restrictions," said Bell.

"Right now, there have been fluctuations in strength with this herd for some time."

Ray Case, manager of technical support for Resources, Wildlife, and Economic Development, estimates that about 1,000 caribou are taken yearly by non-aboriginal resident hunters, up to 1,300 by visiting hunters, and between 5,000 to 8,000 by aboriginal hunters.

He cautioned that the plan merely offers recommendations and would need to be acted upon by the territorial government, which controls wildlife harvesting quotas.

The current yearly quota for non-aboriginal resident hunters is five caribou.

An uproar ensued two years ago when RWED first released data showing Bathurst caribou numbering around 186,000, about a 50 per cent decline from 1996 when the herd was estimated at 350,000.

Outfitter Boyd Warner insists the department botched its numbers by lumping many of the Bathurst herd in with three other herds that overlap their range: the Ahiak, Beverly and Bluenose East.

The Ahiak is estimated to number around 200,000; the Beverly around 275,000.

Warner said he will sue if the territorial government tries to shut him down.

"If they tried to take my quota away I'd take them to court, because legally they would have to prove which caribou I'm taking," said Warner.

Case admitted that their knowledge of the three other herds is limited, although government biologists plan to start monitoring them soon.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem, meanwhile, said he hopes the territorial government will consult with non-aboriginal hunters -- many of whom live in Yellowknife -- before any drastic steps are taken to restrict them from hunting.

"There seems to be a reference to an awful lot of consultation (in the plan), but there doesn't seem to be any references to consultations with licensed hunters in the territories," said Van Tighem.