1. In my opinion, Laws…

1. In my opinion, Laws should not cause the unnecessary wasting of legally harvested animals. Any modifications that allow licensed trappers or licensed fur dealers to sell and market raw castoreum or any other "raw parts" to markets would be welcome changes. The more parts of animals that we are allowed to harvest and market the better to ensure nothing goes to waste. Many of these parts need to remain in the "raw form" to ensure quality of the product. Sometime the reason the product is not harvested is because that trapper does not have the necessary skills require to process that part. An example of this would be beaver tails. Technically I believe it can’t be sold raw nor do I have the skills, time, or market connection to process or sell tails. If this were legalized a larger market may be developed for the leather or fat. I am not sure on the legalities of tails, but I am assuming it is a similar situation to castoreum.

The other one that comes to mind is bear fat. It needs to be sold raw or gifted to have a supply. A trapper can only harvest a limited number of bears. If someone wanted to make a business of selling raw or refined bear fat such as salves, tallow, lard for cooking it would be difficult and possibly illegal depending on the stage. In my opinion, Laws should not cause the unnecessary wasting of harvested animals. If I wanted to maintain a supply of bear fat I can’t legally if I harvest myself with my trapping license. You can’t overharvest on your trapline and properly manage populations and you have a finite harvest supply. I technically can't buy bear fat from other trappers, hunters, or butchers (i am not positive on the regulations so i am assuming here). These laws are causing resources to get wasted that could possibly be put to good use.

2. I am not sure on the requirements for fur dealers so take these comments with a grain of salt. Submitting of reporting data for fur sales is useful information for government and private agencies. If the data is redundant then I am for reducing paper work. If these task are enormous and restrict entry into the industry then I am all for maintaining the trapping industry.

3. I am in favor of allowing trappers to dispatch at night with approved firearms. This should include rural and within city limits. Air rifles or .22 calibers. it is the most humane method along with a dispatch pole.

4. I am all for modifying the acts, laws, and regulations to allow licensed trappers to manage nuisance beaver issues on crown land. What i am not in favor of is opening the nuisance industry to trappers trapping on crown land and registered traplines without the permission of the licensed trapper on the given Registered Trap Line (RTL) or Fur Management Unit (FMU). In our area we have companies hiring trapper to go trap other peoples traplines with no knowledge of the head or helper trappers. These individuals are doing it solely for the money with no provisions for managing beaver populations, reducing income for head trappers. They are also not selective in only taking nuisance beavers and traveling 1km of of the roadways does not necessarily consist of a nuisance beaver. The head and helper trappers should have first right of refusal to trap nuisance beaver on their RTL or FMU period. Trappers trapping on someone else line should have written proof that they are allowed to trap on that specific trapline for nuisance work. The other issues is railway companies and forestry industry hiring companies outside of Ontario to do nuisance work undercutting local trappers. These trappers should not be able to trap in Ontario period unless we can go trap in their province. Only then is it a fair free trade agreement between provinces. This is how trapping is done in many US states. Out of province licenses should be 10x the price of in province licenses. Nuisance license for out of province work should be 100X. Hypothetically speaking Why should a trapper from Quebec be allowed to come onto my line and catch 100 beaver and devastate my beaver population for several years in the future just because the railway passes through my trapline. This causes me to have minimal beaver population for several year and jeopardize my ability to catch my 75% quota. The Quebec trapper or company make $10,000 dollars off of my trapline from the per beaver fee, milage, and dam breaking activities and I as the head trapper loose money for several years on the loss of those beaver pelts on my own line and I have no control of the situation. We need to promote head and helper trappers managing their own lines if companies want to trap on our traplines they need to pay EQUAL compensation to the head trapper unless the trapper refused the right to trap nuisance work on his line.