BG MAC Begins Moose Management Review
The MNRF’s Big Game Management Advisory Committee (BG MAC) have begun the moose management review. This committee will host “listening sessions” across the province throughout the month of May.
Several operators have mentioned concerns over the dates and locations of these sessions. The month of May marks the beginning of the spring bear hunt and the opening of camps. The only Northeastern Ontario location to date is North Bay.
The MNRF hoped to have a session in Timmins, however hotels and meeting locations are not available. The MNRF also expressed their intention to hold the sessions earlier in the year, however, they were unable to get the necessary approvals until now. MNRF will be circulating an online survey in addition to the listening sessions. NOTO will be able to review and provide feedback on this survey prior to its release. The information received through the surveys and the listening sessions will be reviewed by BG MAC as they proceed with the review.
The committee is composed of 8 individuals, primarily resident hunters. NOTO has two representatives on this committee at the moment, and there is also a non-member tourism representative. The majority of the committee is composed of individuals from the Northwest; NOTO will be making recommendations for two additional tourism representatives from the Northeast to ensure better balance.
As stated through the Public Appointments Secretariat, the function of this committee is to provide advice to the Minister respecting policy and programs related to the management of species of big game in Ontario; to review and recommend changes to the allocation of hunting opportunities for big game as may be requested by the Minister; and to provide advice on such other matters as may be requested by the Minister.
It has been made clear that the tourism moose tag allocation model is out of the scope of this committee.Their initial work will focus on aspects of the current tag allocation model with respect to:
- Bull to cow ratios
- Rifle vs bow ratios
- How are available tags determined?
- How resident tags are distributed?
- What needs to be done to better manage moose?
We encourage anyone who can attend the upcoming sessions in person and report back to us here at NOTO. Once we have the time and location details, we will send out a notice to members.
We will also share the online survey link once that has been made available.
NOTO is also pushing forward our concerns that now that the Ontario Moose Bear Allocation Advisory Committee, MNRF will solely have the responsibility of determining how tourism moose tags are allocated. We will keep you abreast of any progress in that regard.
The listening sessions are currently scheduled to occur at the following cities:
- St. Thomas – May 21, 2019
- Peterborough – May 22, 2019
- North Bay – May 23, 2019
- Sault Ste. Marie – May 28, 2019
- Thunder Bay – May 29, 2019
- Dryden – May 30, 2019
Times and locations to be announced at a latter date*
We will keep you updated as we receive additional details.
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