Thank you. Mr. Speaker, my responsibility is in the area of environment and natural resources, and the caribou falls under this heading. We've looked at the number of caribou that are out there; we've surveyed the herd; the numbers were questioned; we went back and surveyed the herds again, our numbers came back that there's even less caribou in our survey than we had previously calculated three years prior, and looked at the amount of caribou that were being harvested in this area. Mr. Speaker, there's well over 6,000 caribou being harvested and there is a requirement to start making some decisions. I don't expect my recommendation to be taken lightly by anybody, for that matter, Mr. Speaker, because there is real concern about the effect it's going to have on industry. But we have to recognize that we have a herd that is in trouble. We have a caribou herd that's in trouble. Their numbers are crashing. We have to do what we can. We have to work with the outfitters; we have to work with resident hunters; we have to work with the aboriginal governments to ensure that this herd survives. We've seen this herd crash by 60,000 animals in the last three years, Mr. Speaker. We have to do a lot more, including non-hunting zones. We'll have to look at some of the ice roads where we limit hunting or else cancel hunting during certain times of the year. There's a number of things we have to do, Mr. Speaker, and I think that's being accountable, Mr. Speaker.
Michael McLeod on Question 307-15(5): Caribou Sport Hunting Tag Reductions
In the Legislative Assembly on February 13th, 2007. See this statement in context.
Return To Question 307-15(5): Caribou Sport Hunting Tag Reductions
Question 307-15(5): Caribou Sport Hunting Tag Reductions
Item 6: Oral Questions
February 12th, 2007
Page 825
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