Shewchuk defends new Baffin Bay polar bear quota

Daniel Shewchuk, Nunavut’s environment minister, went on the offensive in Nunavut’s legislature this past week, saying the decision to start cutting the Baffin Bay polar bear quota this year— instead of next— is sound.

Speaking in the Nunavut legislature March 19, Shewchuk defended this department’s decision to start reducing the Baffin Bay polar bear quota by 10 animals a year in 2010.

His department and the Nunavut government decided to start the decrease a year sooner than recommended by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board to prove Nunavut “can manage our population responsibly and show to the parties that were involved with polar bear management that we are taking action,” he said.

“The sooner we take this action, the sooner we will come to a beneficial agreement for Nunavut and the sooner we may be able to lift the ban on the polar bears from Baffin Bay,” Shewchuk said.

European Union member countries now boycott the import of any polar bear products from Baffin Bay due to concerns about over-hunting in the region.

Shewchuk’s defense came in response to a question asked March 19 by Tununiq MLA James Arvaluk about why the government of Nunavut decided to start the quota cuts despite a recommendation from NWMB to see a decrease start in 2011.

Arvaluk also wanted to know whether hunters in the communities of Pond Inlet, Clyde River, and Broughton Island would receive more information about the quota cuts and polar bear product ban.

Shewchuk promised his department would work with the department of economic development and transportation to “advise the people in the polar bear industry and the outfitters in the communities on avenues that they can explore other businesses.”

“I think that at that point in time too, we should encourage our outfitters and the people involved in our outfitting business to target Canadians and Canadian hunters to come and sport hunt our polar bears as there is no restriction on them doing so,” Shewchuk said.

Arvaluk continued hammering Shewchuk over the issue of compensation when the minister appeared before the committee of the whole on March 22 to defend the budget of his environment department.

Arvaluk asked Shewchuk if the cuts to the polar bear hunt constituted a disaster and, if so, whether hunters could claim compensation under the department’s budget for disasters.

But Shewchuk told Arvaluk this money — $80,000 — is for natural disasters, and that there is no plan to compensate hunters who may suffer due to the cuts to polar bear hunt.

Shewchuk and Peter Taptuna, the minister for economic development, plan to visit Qikiqtarjuaq, Clyde River and Pond Inlet next week to discuss the impact of the quota reductions to the Baffin Bay polar bear hunt.