Eco-tour operators launch protest against bear hunting

Sandra McCulloch
Times Colonist

May 10, 2005

Professional guides who shoot wildlife with cameras had a few things to say Monday to one who uses guns -- but it was left to a cook to deliver the message.

The message was delivered through a protest by eco-tourism operators from Telegraph Cove, Quadra Island and Campbell River. At about 10:30 a.m., their six boats surrounded a vessel owned by hunting guide Peter Klaui of North Coast Adventures as it lay at anchor off the mainland's central coast.

Klaui was ashore with a client and didn't get the message directly. The only person on board was the outfitter's cook. When contacted by phone, the cook said the eco-tourism operators wanted to talk to her but she said she wasn't the one they should be talking to -- and Klaui was not expected to be back until Monday evening.

Nevertheless, the eco-tourism operators feel they accomplished their task by attracting the attention of the media, if not Klaui, to their cause.

"We're seeing a real decline in the number of bears on our tours," said Garry Henkel of Aboriginal Journeys, which runs excursions out of Campbell River.

"This was to try to send a message to the government that we don't want bear hunting in B.C., period."

The guide outfitting industry generates about $116 million each year in B.C., says the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. on its website. The industry employs 2,000 people directly and benefits others in the accommodation, sporting goods and grocery sectors.

More than 5,000 people come to B.C. each year to hunt, said the association. The industry contributes $2 million to $3 million to the government in licences and fees.

There is also money flowing into B.C. from those interested in the province's wildlife, but not in hunting. Tom Sewid is a former hunting guide who operates Village Island Tours, running 3,800 tourists last year out of Sayward and Telegraph Cove to view wildlife at $200 per person a day, or $1,200 for a four-day package.

"I'm still a guide, but now I take people out for memories and photographs," he said.

Guide Outfitters Association general manager Dale Drown said from Vancouver Monday he was unaware of the protest and couldn't offer a comment until he knew what had happened.

It's more than coincidence that bear sightings have dropped off in areas where hunting is taking place, said Henkel, who took 1,000 people last year on wildlife and whale-watching excursions.

"We have people who want to go out and see bear and we're not seeing bear," he said, adding, "We just kind of put two and two together."

The tourists toting cameras want to get pictures of bears and the eco-tourism operators often get them to within 100 metres of the animals as they forage on the beach. The bears get used to boats, which makes them easy targets for hunters.

"When a bear hunter comes along, it's like shooting ducks, it's very easy hunting -- like murder, basically," said Henkel.

But there's nothing illegal about hunting wildlife from a boat, as long as the propellor of the outboard motor is tipped out of the water or the engine is otherwise inoperable at the time of the shooting. It's a regulation the protesters, calling it a "loophole," would like to see tightened up.

"I'm not totally against a hunt that's sustainable, but you want to see it done in a proper way -- it's not humane shooting them off the beach," Henkel said.
Information from the Water, Land and Air Protection Ministry indicates that the population of black bears in B.C. is healthy, with their numbers estimated between 120,000 and 160,000. The outfitters association claims the population of black bears on the Island numbers at least one for every square mile.

Grizzly bear numbers on the central coast are abundant, said the association. The Liberal government lifted a moratorium on hunting grizzly bears in 2001 and since then, say environmentalists, about 1,000 grizzly bears have been killed, 750 of them by trophy hunters.

Sayward RCMP said Monday afternoon they were aware of the protest but so far had not received any complaints about it.