... The story mentions 'unregulated hunting,' but it's mostly tight regulation in this province. Yes, some FN hunt all year, but those folks make up less than 5% of the population, don't be looking for scapegoats there.
You simply cannot employ population demographic figures to imply that one sector's influence is limited due to their lower representation in the general overall population. Such a correlation is flawed, especially so without considering spacial factors (area of occupancy) and of course differing harvest practices amongst the various sectors.
While FN members represent ~ 5% of the overall population in BC (as of 2006 - likely somewhat larger now given their populations were growing at > 15% per annum - approximately three times as fast as non-aboriginal populations then) one must consider where their populations tend to concentrate. Generally that is not so much in larger centers where their presence is often approaching 1% or even less. However in the North and more remote locations, that number increases to 15% and better according to the Northern Health Authority. Simply stated, the FN presence increases per unit of overall population in exactly many of those areas inhabited by moose. By itself, simply an interesting observation of population dynamics...
However, as you alluded to, harvest rates by non-aboriginals is strictly controlled - harvest rates established via scientific studies are designed to maintain a stable and/or growing moose population and breeding cow removals are kept to a minimum except in cases where populations are expanding beyond range tolerances (rare). More and more the trend in BC is towards Limited Entry Hunting (LEH) for moose, which of course is a reflection of ever increasing restrictions on their harvest (a means of reducing harvest numbers) amongst the hunting population the Government can control.
On the other side of that coin is the unregulated and chiefly unreported moose harvests conducted by FN groups. "Unregulated" in that via aboriginal harvest rights the Government has basically NO say in what numbers FN members can and do remove from the resource. Nor can they define the timing of such activities. "Unreported" in that FN organizations have to date been extremely reluctant to track such harvest numbers or provide any input in this regard to overall management objectives.
What this means when related back to population dynamics is that while FN may represent but 5% or so of the overall population, their removal rate (harvest rate) per individual is exponentially higher than their non-aboriginal counterparts.
This is extremely problematic for managers to deal with. Managing any population that can be and is harvested in an unregulated and unreported manner becomes a
Crap Shoot. Base Population and Target Numbers fly out the window when these are subject to change without any regard to overall management objectives.
You are correct in that not all FN members harvest moose on a continuous basis. However there are many that do. And there are many examples of over-harvesting amongst this particular sector in BC, including but not limited to the removal of breeding cows in areas of reduced population densities.
NOT looking for a "
Scape Goat" here, simply recognizing that the suggestion FN influences on dwindling moose populations based solely on population dynamics is an erroneous approach.
IMHO it is time the FN Organizations got
On Side with management, and become part of the solution rather than otherwise. A simple program of collecting & reporting harvest information from their own would go a long ways towards bettering management in this province overall. And should those numbers indicate non-sustainable harvests are occurring in any area / sub-population, perhaps some thought should be given towards restraint in order to keep such populations from even further declines...
As I noted in my previous post in this thread, FN harvests are but one factor of many that
may be playing a role in the decline of BC's moose populations. In the interest of turning those declines around, methinks we should take immediate steps to address as many of those factors as we possibly can...
Just this man's point of view...
Cheers,
Nog
