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INFORMATION BULLETIN
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Ministry of Environment |
B.C.
GOVERNMENT EXPANDS “NO HUNTING” AREAS FOR BEARS
VICTORIA – Environment Minister Barry Penner
advises British Columbians that effective June 16, 2009, an additional 470,000
hectares are now closed to grizzly bear hunting and effective July 1, 2009,
more than 122,000 hectares are closed to black bear hunting on the Central and
North coast.
The three
areas closed to grizzly bear hunting are situated in the Nass-Skeena, Annuhati,
and Khutze-Kitlope-Kimsquit Upper Dean-Tweedsmuir areas.
Areas now closed to black bear
hunting include Gribbell Island and those portions of Princess Royal Island
called the Kitasoo Spirit Bear Conservancy, and the estuary of Whalen Creek and
one km surrounding the estuary. These areas have a high proportion of the
white-phase black bears, more commonly known as Spirit or Kermode Bears.
The B.C. government has worked
with First Nations on the coast to implement the land-use decisions agreed to
in 2006 and 2007. The establishment of three additional closed areas for
grizzly bears and the new closures within the Kermode bear range resulted from
extensive public and First Nations dialogue over many years.
The “no hunting” areas for
grizzlies were originally conceived as part of the Grizzly Bear Conservation
Strategy and endorsed by the Grizzly Bear Scientific Panel in 2002. Specific
locations were agreed to through the land-use planning table, stakeholder
feedback and government-to-government discussions with First Nations.
The addition of 470,000 hectares
closed to hunting brings the total area closed to grizzly bear hunting along
the Central and North coast to 1.9 million hectares.
Through Strategic Land-Use
Agreements, the B.C. government and First Nations also identified more than
122,000 hectares to be closed to black bear hunting to provide additional
protection for Kermode bears. These areas will be closed to black bear hunting
following this spring’s hunt, which ended on June 30. Additionally, as of this
year the hunting of any white-phase black bears anywhere in the province is now
prohibited. Previously this prohibition only applied to the Kermode subspecies
found in coastal regions.
Under the B.C. Wildlife Act, it
is illegal to hunt Kermode bears, and penalties are up to $100,000 and/or one
year in prison. Subsequent offenders can pay double and do double the jail
time.
Following amendments introduced
by Environment Minister Barry Penner in 2008, the maximum penalty for a first
offence conviction under the B.C. Wildlife Act is now $250,000, up from the
previous $50,000 maximum. Penalties can now include imprisonment for a term of
two years, up from the previous six months. Subsequent convictions for the same
or similar offences carry a maximum fine of $500,000 and/or three years in
jail.
Hunting of bears is only
permitted in areas where bear populations can sustain a controlled harvest and
where bear populations are determined to be either stable or increasing.
According to the best available
science, sustainable harvest rates for grizzly bears can be as high as nine per
cent where hunting is permitted.
The Ministry of Environment
manages the grizzly bear harvest rate in B.C. more conservatively at a maximum
of six per cent for total human-caused mortality, with an actual harvest rate
of approximately two to four per cent in many grizzly bear population units
where hunting is permitted.
There are an estimated 80,000 to
100,000 black bears in the province. The best available science supports
sustainable harvest rates of 12 per cent, but B.C. manages for a mortality rate
of up to eight per cent for black bears. This includes hunting and other
human-caused mortality such as vehicle collisions.
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Contact: |
Communications
Director Ministry of
Environment 250 387-9973 |
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