Activities related to the wildlife world, including hunting and fishing, contribute billions of dollars to Quebec’s economy.
This is shown by the figures published by the Ministry of the Environment, Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks. Quebec has 294,000 hunters, 695,000 fishermen, 6,600 trappers and 2,326,000 wildlife watchers.
The annual spending of all these followers is estimated at $4.7 billion. All of this spending supports the production of goods and services that contribute $2.4 billion in added value to Quebec’s gross domestic product (GDP), as we can read in the ministry’s documents. It also explains that there are 28,000 full-time jobs in all of these environments.
The majority of these jobs, 16,000, are in the fishing sector. Hunting activity is the source of 7,000 jobs and trapping activity 263.
The spending of these followers helps support the regional economy. They also contribute greatly to the wildlife industry where we find ministry partners, traders and manufacturers. Amateurs can count on a network of 565 outfitters, 86 active ZECs, 27 national parks, a marine park and 21 game reserves to carry out their activities.
The largest total expenditure, $2.5 billion, comes from fishermen. They are followed by hunters with $1.3 billion, wildlife watchers with $785 million and trappers with spending of $58 million.
The hunter Michel Simard poses with his catch. Photo provided by Karl Tremblay and Julien Cabana
BY REGION
In the portrait created by the government, we find highlights by region and activity.
So we learn that small game hunting ($207 million), elk hunting ($196 million), and white-tailed deer hunting ($175 million) account for 83.7% of the economic benefits of hunting in make up Quebec.
In the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, small game hunting dominates in terms of economic benefits. Not surprisingly, the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region wins the prize for elk hunting, while Estrie stands out for white-tailed deer hunting.
According to the same data, we learn that the pike, perch and bass fishery generates $408 million in ancillary revenue, the walleye fishery generates $261 million, and the char (speckled trout) fishery generates $174 million . These figures represent 64.9% of the economic benefits of fishing in Quebec.
Pike, perch and perch fisheries have the greatest impact in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region. Zander dominates in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. The greatest economic benefits to trout fishing are recorded in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region.
All of this data comes from official figures for the 2022 season.
THE POPULAR MOOSE
Without much surprise, when we look at permit sales for the 2022-2023 year, we can quickly see that elk remains the most popular big game.
A total of 168,486 permits were sold to residents and 2,645 to non-residents. Then we find small game with 168,008 for residents and 2,269 for non-residents. For white-tailed deer, 132,513 resident licenses and 829 nonresident licenses were sold, excluding Anticosti, where more than 4,000 licenses were issued.
In recent years, several fans have asked questions about the moose population in Quebec. Government experts in the field assure us that despite the decline in population density in certain areas, there is no problem for this species.
They recall that in the 1960s and 1990s the moose population was around 70,000 to 90,000 animals, while in 2020 it increased to 130,000 to 140,000 animals.
According to the data provided for the annual harvest, the number of animals registered in years in which the removal of females is permitted is around 27,000, while the harvest in years in which the removal of females is permitted is around 20,000.
These numbers have been stable for 10 years. However, it is estimated that this season, although permissive, may well see a slight decline in the harvest, especially due to the special measures for zones 27 and 2.
We will have to wait until January to know the exact results of the 2023 harvest.
In the past, the ministry regularly released results during the season. We were told that they had abandoned this practice due to speculation about these partial results. Time will tell whether the specialists were right in their optimism.
AN INTERESTING VIDEO
There is a very interesting video on the Quebec Federation of Hunters and Fishermen website that explains how to maximize the meat of your game. Yves Fortin from Boucherie René Richard in Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley in Estrie gives valuable advice on how to preserve as much meat as possible when gutting your game. By following his advice, you can be sure that you will get tasty meat, without forgetting the fact that you are doing your butcher a favor when he butchers and packages your meat. Personally, I always take very good care of my game once I have harvested it and until it ends up in the slaughterhouse. Don’t forget to sign up for the Generous Hunters section.
