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The Leader-Post (Regina) DATE: 2008.09.24 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A10 BYLINE: Adrian Alleyne SOURCE: Leader-Post WORD COUNT: 508 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hunting, angling on the rise, study shows -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The popularity of hunting and angling has been on the rise in Saskatchewan and it continues to grow, according to a 10-year comparative study. [see links to tables below] The study was conducted by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment and found that hunter and angler numbers are on the increase, unlike other areas of North America. "The hunting and angling opportunities in Saskatchewan are excellent in most cases, so our populations and our fish stocks are pretty good," said Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF). According to Crabbe, demographics may have played a role in the increased numbers. "Maybe it has something to do with the changing demographics in the province. We're having people return to our province," said Crabbe. "It's a quality of life issue. They get to come back here and that's something they might have not had an opportunity to enjoy where they were. "There's a lot of people that we hear from that are moving here from other locations throughout Canada and are taking up on those activities." Crabbe also believes the government could be doing more to contribute to resident hunters and anglers. "The tourism folks seem to want to spend their money more on trying to draw non-residents to the province, when in fact if you look at the economic impact study, the economic benefit from resident hunting is much greater," said Crabbe. The allocation of money from resident hunting ends up going back to rural Saskatchewan, while a lot of the money from outfitted hunting and angling goes to urban areas because a lot of the money is spent on travel, according to Crabbe. "This province is a great place to hunt and angle ... What it tells us (is that) it's popular to residents and also for those outside the province because it's a high-quality experience," said Rick Ashton, director of resource allocation with the Fish and Wildlife Branch of the Ministry of Environment. "(If) you want to fish or hunt in Saskatchewan you have a good chance at having a great day. We have lots of great waters, lots of great landscapes for people to go out and enjoy the day, and whether they actually come home with something is not necessarily the ultimate goal anyway." The SWF said the number of non-resident hunters went down in Saskatchewan while the number of licensed hunters went up by 1,000 in 2007, thanks to an additional 2,000 residents taking part last year. As for anglers, angling licences went up to 183,000 in 2007, according to Crabbe. Ashton points to a healthy wildlife population and increased co-operation between different wildlife organizations for the increase. "We have very healthy populations, and they're well-managed, so people can go out there and enjoy the experience ... The ministry in partnership with the hunters and anglers and all the conservation organizations do a really good job of taking care of the resources. "We all work together. Certainly it's our responsibility as wildlife and fisheries managers, but hunters and anglers and conservation organizations have done (a lot) of work over the years ... whether it's stream enhancement projects or promoting conservation, all of those kinds of things. Working together we've got a great resource out there that we're all taking care of," said Ashton. Saskatchewan Hunting Licence Sales - 1997-2007 Saskatchewan Fishing Licence Sales - 1997-2007 |