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No commitment on caribou tags Hunters' groups offer undisclosed amount of money for surveySimon Whitehouse Northern News Services Published Friday, January 27, 2012
The federation held its annual general meeting (AGM) Saturday at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, which featured a talk by Ray Case, assistant deputy minister of operations for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Federation president Martin Knutson said he was "shocked" at the lack of information that came forward. "There was not really anything new coming out of there," said Knutson. "From meetings that we had prior to the AGM we had wanted to work with the wildlife federation on doing a proper count but Ray didn't really release anything new, and we were disappointed that he didn't have much to tell us." Knutson and other members of the federation said they had been hopeful, based on indications from the government that there had been an increase in the Bluenose-East herd numbers to 98,600 animals in 2010 from 67,000 in 2006, that there would have been some discussion about allowing residential hunters to get tags again. The non-aboriginal resident sport hunt of barren-ground caribou has been closed across most of the territory since Jan. 1, 2010 in an effort to protect declining numbers. "The resident hunters are very disappointed that with the Bluenose herd numbers up to an all-time high, that the aboriginal hunters are hunting at will and the resident hunters aren't allowed to go after caribou," said Knutson, who said GNWT policies on hunting discriminate against non-aboriginal hunters. Case declined to comment on Knutson's accusations but thanked him for his comments. "We recognize views held on the way things come about in the North, but that is all I can really say about it," Case said on Monday. The Bluenose-East herd occasionally winters near Yellowknife but it's the Bathurst herd that historically has been the most common in this area. The department reported their numbers had dropped sharply to 32,000 in 2009 from 128,000 in 2006. The next Bathurst herd survey is scheduled for this spring. The NWT Wildlife Federation was joined at its AGM last weekend by the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Safaris International - all three are hunting advocacy groups - where it was revealed that the three groups may be willing to offer the GNWT an undisclosed money to help pay for this year's round of surveys, which have a tentative budget of $2 million. "They're offering money to support the overall delivery of our caribou management strategy," said Case. "We don't know what the most effective use of the resources might be yet. We have been looking at additional modeling of population work, or work around communications. We would like to be able to work with (hunters' groups) and build on areas of capacity that people might have." NWT Wildlife Federation member Darcy Hernblad asked Case on Saturday when he thought the resident hunt of barren-ground caribou might resume, but Case would not commit. He said it's hoped the government would finish its management plan for the Bathurst herd this year with "blue chip information on the status of those animals" completed by the fall. Knutson said the federation is also upset with the number of collars being placed on Bathurst caribou. He argued that because the Tlicho government is only allowing a maximum of 20 collars to be put on the animals, there is no way of getting a solid count of the herd size. "All I can say is that the government continues to discuss the issue of collaring with the Tlicho people," Case replied, adding he had no estimate to offer as to the number of collars that should be used. The AGM included an election for the new board. Those on the board for the coming year will include Knutson as president; Gord Van Tighem as treasurer; Hernblad as the secretary; plus board members Kevin Dunn, Ed Kokoszka and Wayne Martin of Fort Smith, Vince Jones of Fort Good Hope, and Wayne Keefe of Hay River.
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