ONTARIO—A final decision has been announced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) that will see graduated financial penalties for hunters for failing to submit mandatory hunter reports.
The regulation decision under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 was announced on December 20, 2024 on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO). This came after a consultation comment period had been in place from August 15-October 1.
“A decision was made to replace the one-year prevent from purchase with a higher financial penalty as part of the graduated penalty approach for hunters who fail to submit a mandatory hunter report two or more consecutive times for a species,” the decision notice reads.
“The decision is to proceed with the $50 financial penalty to replace the one year prevent from purchase for two or more consecutive failures to submit a hunter report as part of the graduated penalty framework,” the EBR decision explains. “The regulation was filed by the Registrar of Regulations on November 29, 2024. The new $50 graduated financial penalty will take effect for consecutive failures to report that occur after July 1, 2026, so hunters could see these penalties beginning in 2027. Until that time, the $25 surcharge penalty will apply to any failure to report. The graduated penalty fee approach is intended to promote and maintain higher hunter reporting compliance while allowing hunters to continue hunting.”
A total of 26 comments were received on the regulation through the ERO registry.
“Consultation on the original proposal to implement mandatory hunter reporting in 2019 indicated that most hunters and stakeholders were supportive of tools to encourage compliance,” the MNRF notice said. “Comments on this proposal revealed the same but indicates some hunters and stakeholders prefer an approach that penalizes hunters without preventing them from hunting. Some comments expressed support for the existing graduate penalty approach suggesting the prevent from purchase is necessary to achieve the desired response rates. A few hunters generally expressed concern about government regulation. No changes were made to the proposal as a result of feedback received.”
“The ministry will monitor the results of the change to a graduated financial penalty once fully implemented in 2027. If the change does not result in the expected response rates necessary to ensure the best quality data further changes may be considered in the future.”
“The ministry will continue to communicate applicable penalties for failing to report to hunters who have provided a valid email address in the licencing service through notifications and email reminders in the hunting regulation summary and other social media channels.”
In the original proposal it was explained, “information provided by hunters through mandatory hunter reporting is important for managing wildlife in Ontario. It specifically helps the Ministry of Natural Resources monitor wildlife populations, develop harvest plans and tag quotas, make changes to season and bag limits and inform other management policies.”
“Ontario’s hunters have been very responsive to the mandatory hunter reporting requirements that we introduced in 2019,” the original proposal read. “Reporting rates are now around 90 percent across all species and requirements, but that is still short of the desired and expected level of 95 plus percent compliance. Increased hunter reporting compliance leads to improved data, better management decisions and may lead to increased opportunities for hunters in some areas.”
“Experience in Ontario with previous hunter reporting requirements for certain species has shown that it is difficult to achieve and maintain high compliance with mandatory hunter reporting requirements without meaningful penalties that can be applied efficiently,” the proposal outlines.
“Amendments to O. Reg. 665/98 (Hunting) came into effect in 2022, which established a graduated penalty approach for mandatory hunter reporting where a hunter receives a $25 surcharge penalty for each failure to submit a mandatory report in accordance with the requirements and time frame in regulation. The penalty must be paid before the hunter can purchase any relevant draw application, licence or tag for that species. If a hunter fails to submit a hunter report on two consecutive occasions for the same species, they are prevented from purchasing any relevant product for that species for one year. Under the previous regulation, after one year, the penalties reset and the hunter would be subject to the $25 penalty if they subsequently fail to submit their report again.”
