By Ragnar Haagen

SOA hopes to curb unlicensed outfitters

Aug 11, 2011 | 6:26 AM

The Saskatchewan Outfitters Association (SOA) is concerned about the influx in the number of illegal outfitter companies operating in the province.

The provincial government allocates a certain number of licenses to registered outfitters, and presently each one has been spoken for. But, SOA vice president Hal Stupenikoff said unlicensed companies are continuing to travel up from the United States for fishing and hunting excursions.

“Yes they have been (coming to Saskatchewan) for the past number of years,” said Stupenikoff.

“Because there aren’t any more allocations left, people don’t want to buy an allocation (from an existing outfitter company) so we certainly have people setting up operations, which we consider illegal operations because they’re not licensed.”

This has become a major problem for both registered outfitters and the SOA for a number of reasons.

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“These operations, because they are covert, presents us with a lot of problems in terms of the possible overharvesting of the resource and difficulties with local farmers because they don’t ask permission to enter private land,” explained Stupenikoff.

“Obviously they take money from the legitimate outfitter, but above that, they could give Saskatchewan a bad name and if people start hearing this then bad news travels fast. People are going to go elsewhere, so it’s a double whammy on the outfitters through –loss of credibility and loss of clients.”

Nelson Ackerman, a provincial outfitting coordinator with the Government of Saskatchewan, acknowledges there are only 626 licenses, and each one has been accounted for.

“There are no new opportunities,” said Ackerman. “The only way you can acquire an outfitter license at this point in time is to purchase or buy out an existing outfitter. Those operating without a license could be charged with an offence. After that, it would depend on what they were doing until that point in time. In each case, it would be an individual case.”

Ackerman said that with a license, the outfitter is given a designated area to operate in. The license does not allow them to operate in the entire province.

“To be eligible for an outfitter license, they must have a head office in Saskatchewan, be over 18 years of age and buy an existing outfitting business,“ said Ackerman.

“It is possible to lose your license by breaking the law, contrary to the wildlife act. (Your license) would then be reviewed and could be pulled.”

A number of years ago, the SOA developed a best practices outline, and they are currently in the process of upgrading those now. The outline will look at the changes to the industry and what they should be doing to stay successful.

“We would like to work along with the Government of Saskatchewan to develop a process, perhaps an industry led council that would look at the licensing and maybe even license the operators so it would be an autonomous thing,” said Stupenikoff.

“These operators also don’t necessarily follow best practices so we can depend on the clients sometimes if they’re being shortchanged and then we can deal with them through the government.”

rhaagen@rawlco.com