New Five-year Plan Outlines Sustainable Approach to Moose Management

The Honourable Derrick Bragg, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, today announced a new five-year moose management plan that outlines how wildlife managers will use and publicly share the best scientific and social data available to ensure sustainable moose populations for future generations.

The 2022-26 Newfoundland and Labrador Moose Management Plan was developed based on broad consultations with citizens and includes three overarching goals:

1. Ensure moose are managed sustainably, and in balance with the environment and public safety;
2. Publicly present the science-based decision-making framework that wildlife managers use for moose management; and
3. Share knowledge about management objectives and targets and improve transparency.

The plan outlines meaningful and achievable objectives that will have a real impact on the quality of moose management in the province, including expanding ongoing engagement with Indigenous Governments and Organizations, increasing frequency of Moose Management Area surveys, improving tools to collect hunter return information, and reviewing the provincial Wildlife Act and Regulations.

The 2022-26 plan brings a new level of transparency to moose management by including an overview of the biology and history of moose in the province, past peaks in the moose population, and conditions leading to the province’s current moose population. It also outlines the management principles and targets biologists use to manage moose, and describes how biologists collect and use scientific data.

Key opportunities to improve moose management are also included in the plan, such as commitments to maintain an active aerial survey program and use digital tools and incentives to collect hunter data, development of initiatives to engage and consult hunters and grow the hunting community, and exploring areas for future research.

The new plan builds on insights gained from valuable data collected from the 2015-20 Moose Management Plan, which focused on research, data collection, and program review to support sustainable moose populations, benefits to citizens, and reduced human-moose conflicts.