This regulatory amendment to the Migratory Bird Regulations would create a special hunting season when hunters may take overabundant species for protection and conservation reasons. This action demonstrates the federal government's commitment to the conservation of global diversity of wildlife by ensuring the protection of fragile arctic wetland ecosystems. There is a 15 day public comment period. The Report recommends exceptional management measures be adopted and quick action be taken in order to stabilize the Greater Snow Goose population. The current high population levels pose an imminent and irreparable threat to the integrity of habitats on which the species depends.
Habitat protection is the key component of an effective approach to the protection of species.
The degradation of habitats caused by an overabundance of the mid-continent Lesser Snow Goose is a relevant model for managing and providing a clear indication of what is likely to occur in the Eastern Arctic with high populations of the Greater Snow Goose. Hunters will an important role in the management of wildlife as well as to help assure the future of an important food and cultural resource for aboriginal people. The Greater Snow Goose population has increased from 50,000 to more than 835,000 between 1965 and the spring of 1998. According to scientists, populations will reach one million in 2000 and two million in 2008. The increased growth rate is a result of human-induced factors, such as the creation of bird sanctuaries, changes in farming practices, a reduction in bird harvest and a longer period of breeding success and perhaps by climate change in the Arctic.