Trappers in the province’s north had a good year last season — just not as good as the previous two years.
In fact, the total cash value that northern fur harvesters got for their pelts was $1.546,049.66 — but it was $932,661.14 less than the previous season ($2,478,710.80).
Provincial fur specialist Mike Gollop says it wasn’t because of a lack of trying.
“It was a fairly significant decline and the decline really has everything to do with the market and nothing to do with effort, because the number of pelts marketed in both years was relatively similar.”
Still, last season’s harvest was one of the very best in the last two decades — and was worth three times the harvest from just five years ago ($493,516.55 in 2009-2010).
Mild winters in Europe and Asia have been blamed for last season’s downturn.