Caribou limit goes to NAFTA
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1174517.html
By BOB WEBER The Canadian Press
Mon. Mar 29 - 4:53 AM
An American hunting outfitter is trying to use the North American Free Trade Agreement to fight what he considers misguided northern wildlife management.
A move by the Northwest Territories to revoke caribou tags for non-resident hunters is effectively the same as shutting down his business, says John Andre, who operates two hunting camps in the territory from his headquarters in Montana.
His allotment of caribou tags would go from 420 a year at its peak to zero under a proposal before a northern regulatory board.
"They confiscated my business," he says. "My intent is to be compensated."
His notice of intent, recently filed with the federal deputy attorney general, seeks compensation of more than $8 million. But what Andre really wants is for Ottawa to review the territory’s belief that caribou herds are shrinking.
Andre depends on an annual allotment of caribou tags to serve big-game hunters. But the yearly tags to non-aboriginal hunters have been gradually scaled back as the Northwest Territories tries to relieve pressure on its once-mighty herds.
Biologists say nine of Canada’s 11 caribou herds are in decline. The Bathurst herd of the central barrens, they say, dropped from 120,000 animals in 2006 to 32,000 three years later. The Beverly herd to the east — 280,000 strong 15 years ago — has virtually disappeared.
Caribou herds have always fluctuated, but biologists suspect a combination of climate change, industrial development and hunting may be preventing them from bouncing back.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1174517.html
By BOB WEBER The Canadian Press
Mon. Mar 29 - 4:53 AM
An American hunting outfitter is trying to use the North American Free Trade Agreement to fight what he considers misguided northern wildlife management.
A move by the Northwest Territories to revoke caribou tags for non-resident hunters is effectively the same as shutting down his business, says John Andre, who operates two hunting camps in the territory from his headquarters in Montana.
His allotment of caribou tags would go from 420 a year at its peak to zero under a proposal before a northern regulatory board.
"They confiscated my business," he says. "My intent is to be compensated."
His notice of intent, recently filed with the federal deputy attorney general, seeks compensation of more than $8 million. But what Andre really wants is for Ottawa to review the territory’s belief that caribou herds are shrinking.
Andre depends on an annual allotment of caribou tags to serve big-game hunters. But the yearly tags to non-aboriginal hunters have been gradually scaled back as the Northwest Territories tries to relieve pressure on its once-mighty herds.
Biologists say nine of Canada’s 11 caribou herds are in decline. The Bathurst herd of the central barrens, they say, dropped from 120,000 animals in 2006 to 32,000 three years later. The Beverly herd to the east — 280,000 strong 15 years ago — has virtually disappeared.
Caribou herds have always fluctuated, but biologists suspect a combination of climate change, industrial development and hunting may be preventing them from bouncing back.
