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Conservationists are worried that Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest may soon be a misnomer. Anchor Katy Clark speaks wtih Ian McCallister, director of the conservation group “Pacific Wild.”

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KATY CLARK: There’s a vast stretch of protected forest on Canada’s Pacific Coast called the Great Bear Rainforest.  It’s red cedar and sitka spruce trees as far as the eye can see.  But recently conservationists have been sounding an alarm. Bears are a rare sight these days. Ian Mc Callister is director of the conservation group Pacific Wild.  And, Ian, I understand you are somewhere out in the Great Bear Rainforest as we speak.

IAN MC CALLISTER: Yes, that’s correct.  I’m just anchored off of Princess Royal Island.  Pretty much right in the central part of the area known as the Great Bear Rain Forest.

CLARK: So what is the crux of your concern about the bears?

MC CALLISTER: The disturbing issue that we’re finding now is a lack of bears returning to the salmon rivers here, and we believe the reason for this is because last year we had a catastrophic collapse of wild salmon.  The bears just could not find salmon to eat because they were not returning to the rivers.  The big scare then was that the bears were going to their dens very hungry and did not take on enough fat reserves to make it through the winter.  And what we’re finding now is just a lack of cubs of the year or mothers with newborn cubs.  But starvation because of the lack of salmon seems to be the culprit here.

CLARK: Have you seen any today as you’re out and about?

MC CALLISTER: I have.  I’ve seen a few bears.  You know, it’s not completely dismal, but generally speaking on the mainland coast where the winter was more severe those are the areas associated more with the die off.  And we’ve requested some action from both the federal and provincial government and so far have been met with more of a wait-and-see approach.

CLARK: What have you asked the government to do?

MC CALLISTER: We’ve asked them to cancel the fall trophy hunt.

CLARK: Which is going on right now, isn’t it?

MC CALLISTER: It’s going on right now.  We’ve come across two active camps that have trophy hunters in them, and they’re targeting both black bear and grizzly bear. So, you know, we feel that at this point every bear that made it through the winter is a very lucky one, and an impressive one.  And should not be targeted just for fortuitous sport, especially because of between 30 and 50% of bears that are killed here for trophies are female.

CLARK: How many bears are the hunters allowed to take in the hunting seasons that is currently going on?

MC CALLISTER: It’s open season on black bears.  So an unlimited amount of black bears can be killed, but it’s a limited entry hunt for grizzly bears.  So approximately between 250 and 350 grizzly bears are killed in the Province of British Columbia every year just for sport.

CLARK: And from what’s been described to me, the bears sort of line up along the river waiting for the salmon to go by.  The hunters show up there, too, and it’s not that difficult to shoot a bear when you have this combination?

MC CALLISTER: Well, that’s absolutely correct. More than 90% of the bears killed in the fall season are killed right on the edge of these salmon rivers while they’re feeding for salmon. So in many respects it’s an unethical hunt.  What’s especially discouraging is to look at the amount of First Nation led bear viewing companies emerging and diversifying the local economies here, and of course they are at odds with the trophy hunting.  So in some rivers there might be bear viewers with cameras and tripods and trophy hunters with rifles.  And these bears in some cases are being habituated to people and are at a real disadvantage to get away from people because they, of course, don’t know whether they’re having their picture taken or whether they’re being killed for a trophy.

CLARK: Sure.  Give us a picture of what is out there on the river where the bears are today.  Sort of describe the scene for us.

MC CALLISTER: Sure, I’m just anchored off of Salmon Creek right now.  They have grizzly bears, Spirit bears and black bears.  So it’s extremely impressive that way.  We do have pink salmon that have returned in above expected numbers this year.  So there is a lot of salmon in the creeks for the bears, and they should be here feeding, and the question is really where are they?  We’re finding a few, of course.  Some have made it through the winter, but not in the numbers that we would normally see.

CLARK: Ian Mc Callister is Director of the Conservation Group Pacific Wild.  Thanks for speaking with us.

MC CALLISTER: It’s my pleasure.

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