Informing Resource Managers - Using Local Ecological Knowledge of Murre Hunters, A Case Study

Thirty murre hunters in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada were interviewed during the 2021-22 hunting season to solicit their views respecting the federal regulatory framework in place to manage the hunt and to use hunter local ecological knowledge (LEK) to identify abundance and distribution changes in the study area. The results suggest that while murre hunters believe they have historic rights to hunt murres, they generally support the regulations in place. Furthermore, hunters would be prepared to accept amendments to the existing regulations to support conservation efforts if they were provided with evidence that was consistent with their own observations. Murre hunter interviews suggest that hunter knowledge of murre biology is weak despite their extensive hunting knowledge and experience. LEK was used to ascertain hunter temporal and spatial knowledge of murre abundance and distribution in the study area. LEK was useful to identify temporal and spatial distribution and abundance within each murre hunter’s hunting territory but was limited as a methodology to quantify abundance and distribution changes within the broader context. Despite this, hunters observed in murre distribution and abundance anomalies within Bonavista Bay due to changes in bait distribution, increasing ocean temperatures, lack of ice over the past decade, hunter pressure, fishing impacts, and wind conditions that impacted their hunting success.