|
Home Services
Clients Rycroft
Search Growing Jobs in British Columbia’s Grizzly Countryby Alan Rycroft In tough economic times, it’s nice to know that there’s at least one well-paying industry in rural BC that’s growing — wilderness tourism. According to Stan Hagen, BC’s Minister of Sustainable Resource Management: “The opportunities and the potential for growth in this [wilderness tourism] sector… are large. After all, we are known around the world as Super, Natural British Columbia…” And that’s not just Victoria puffery. In the last five years, Knight Inlet Lodge has grown its grizzly viewing tourism business from zero to $1.7 million dollars annually. The lodge has seen no decline from September 11th, the rising Canadian dollar, the Iraq war, SARS or almost anything else. According to the Wilderness Tourism Association, this sector is the fastest-growing segment of BC’s tourism industry, climbing at 9-10% annually. What makes its growth especially beneficial are the high rates of pay. For example, out of 25 total staff, Knight Inlet Lodge features 10 nature interpreters with resource-sector pay scales. If the success of tourism operators in the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC is any indication, grizzly bear viewing might well be the fastest of BC’s fast-growing tourism industry. But there is something that threatens wilderness tourism and grizzly bear viewing. The grizzly hunt. Just like salmon on the west coast, and cod on the east, the continued trophy hunting of BC’s grizzly bear stock may effectively kill off the resource, and destroy the grizzly bear economy in the process. A report just released by the Centre for Integral Economics shows grizzly bear viewing is already worth $6.1 million dollars annually in BC. In comparison, they found grizzly hunting was only worth about half as much, $3.3 million. Or only $2.9 million using government figures— just five percent of guide-outfitting revenues, with no potential for growth. Like all resource sector industries, long-term jobs, and business and community success, all depend on a sustainable harvest. In the case of grizzly bears, no one really knows how many bears live in BC. The Centre for Integral Economics calculates it would cost $120 million to accurately count the grizzly population. That’s a lot to take away from hospitals, education and local services, especially at a time like this, for a hunt worth only $3.3 million. Based on what we’ve seen at Knight Inlet Lodge, and what we’ve heard from other grizzly bear viewing operators, the grizzly bear population is declining in BC. If the hunt continues, it may only be a matter of time before there are no bears left for hunting or viewing. And we will have lost the potential for good economic growth. Unfortunately, there’s even more at stake for British Columbia than wilderness tourism, as important as that is. In June, the US Humane Society launched a boycott of everything Canadian. Why? Because they don’t like the seal hunt on Canada’s east coast. Only two years ago there were flashy billboards in New York City’s Times Square asking people to boycott BC until the hunt on grizzly bears was stopped. We don’t want to see that, or anything like it, happen again. A BC boycott is a lot to risk for a small, dying industry. For the sake of BC’s healthy and growing tourism sector, and also for the grizzly bears themselves, it’s time to stop the trophy hunt of grizzlies in British Columbia. A renewed moratorium would be a golden opportunity to re-market Super, Natural British Columbia to Canada and the world, and increase tourism throughout the province. At the same time, grizzly hunt outfitters could be assisted by government to refocus their businesses or find alternative livelihoods. Powered by Sunshine Communications Copyright ©1996-2005 Alan Rycroft. All rights reserved. Ideas welcomed |