Poaching in Newfoundland and Labrador : the creation of an issue

McGrath, Darrin M. (Darrin Michael) (1992) Poaching in Newfoundland and Labrador : the creation of an issue. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

In September, 1982 newspapers in St. John's reported that the provincial government had declared a "war" on big game poaching. Perhaps the most significant of the initiatives announced by the provincial Minister of wildlife were amendments to the provincial Wildlife Act. These legislative changes increased fines and jail terms for convicted poachers and also made the confiscation of any vehicle or equipment used in a big game poaching incident mandatory. -- This thesis examines how and why poaching became an issue for the government of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1982. Legislation governing poaching had first been enacted in Newfoundland in 1845. Why did poaching, a crime for 150 years, emerge as an issue in 1982? The analysis draws on the body of sociological research dealing with the "discovery" or "creation" of social problems. This literature suggests that a social problem is a social construct. It results from a process of definition in which a given condition is recognized as a social problem. -- In this thesis, Spector and Kitsuse's (1977) four stage framework for investigating the emergence and maintenance of an issue is utilized, in conjunction with Best's (1987) analysis of rhetoric, to argue that the emergence of the poaching issue was inextricably linked to the provincial government's desire to expand the outdoor tourist industry. Poaching did not emerge as an issue in 1982 because of an escalation in poaching incidents. The key factor was the provincial government's renewed interest in outdoor tourism, a specific part of which was non-resident big game hunting.

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