Summary
This morning, Minister Yakabuski and PA Harris announced improvements to Ontario’s moose harvest management system. These changes are based on concerns we’ve heard from hunters and recommendations made last year by Ontario’s Big Game Management Advisory Committee.
Key Messages
- Our government is taking action to ensure a sustainable moose population, while making moose harvest management and tag allocation fairer and more consistent for hunters.
- A healthy and sustainable moose population is critical to support continued hunting opportunities for generations to come.
- To support moose population sustainability, we are putting into place further restrictions on calf hunting so more calves have a better chance of reaching adulthood.
- In spring 2019, the government tasked the Big Game Management Advisory Committee to advise the province on how to improve management of moose in Ontario, with a focus on improving quota setting and tag allocation. These changes result from the committee’s recommendations.
- We are listening to hunters’ concerns and have designed a fairer and more consistent approach on how the province develops moose tag quotas and distributes those tags.
- Moving from a draw to a point-based system will give preference to applicants who have applied but were unsuccessful in getting a tag for the greatest number of years.
- We’re taking an adaptive management approach to moose hunting; decisions are based on what we know of the current population numbers to ensure sustainable populations across the province. The ministry will continue to conduct moose aerial inventory surveys in specific areas each winter, and these surveys will help estimate moose population status and assess trends.
- The government is committed to supporting hunters and hunting, which contributes more than $560 million annually to Ontario’s economy and creates jobs in many rural and northern communities; moose hunting accounts for more than $205 million of that total.
News Links
English: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/55895/ontario-improving-moose-management-approach