Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a concern from the community of Aklavik. Harvesters in the community would like to see an increase to the prime fur bonus for beaver, mink and also fox. I brought this issue up a couple of weeks back. You know, the populations are increasing on beavers and foxes, and also mink and otters, as well, but the advance that’s given for these animals is very low; $25 for a minimum payment under the Fur Pricing Program, which will be taken on by ENR on April 1st.
The amount of work that goes into working of the animals such as a beaver, the time you spend going out, trapping the beaver, skinning the beaver, cleaning the beaver, fleshing… That cost just doesn’t add up, and our harvesters would like to see that increased over the near future here in order to help manage the species.
This also has an impact on other species, whether its muskrats… You know, at the moment we have very good prices on muskrats but the populations are so low that we’re not meeting the needs.
I’ll have questions for the Minister later today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
