Iqaluit hunters prepare to net bowhead whale

There will be “maktaaq everywhere” on Iqaluit’s shore on Aug. 14 if members of the Amaruq Hunters and Trappers Association manage to catch their first bowhead in four years.

An unidentified member of the Amaruq Hunters and Trappers Association prepares whale meat following a hunt of a bowhead whale near Iqaluit in August 2022. The association is planning another bowhead hunt next week. (Photo by Bill Williams, Special to Nunatsiaq News)

Twenty-four hunters of all ages are set to take part in the hunt next week.

“We have lots of people involved — a lot of young people,” said Naulaq Inookie, chair of the association’s qalugiaq planning committee, which is co-ordinating the hunt.

The last bowhead hunt in Iqaluit was in 2022. Inookie participated in the hunt before that, in 2018. Bowhead hunts are regulated by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The group plans to use six boats, each with a four-member crew. They are not necessarily looking for the biggest bowhead they can find.

“It can take a week to butcher a big one,” he said. “We’ll be looking for a nice small whale so it won’t take long to butcher up.”

The hunters will examine their prey before striking to ensure the animal is not too “vicious,” Inookie said.

“That’s to make sure it doesn’t attack any boats. There are some whales that are aggressive,” he said.

If successful, the hunters will pull the whale up on land at the breakwater near the downtown.

“There’ll be maktaaq everywhere down there — that is if we catch one,” Inookie said.

Every part of a bowhead is edible, Inookie said, including the skin.

“It can feed a lot of people,” he said. “We’re going to cut it up and share it with the community and other settlements in the Qikiqtaaluk region.”

Hunting a bowhead whale costs an estimated $120,000, which goes toward equipment, payment to crew, food and fuel.

The City of Iqaluit granted the association $10,000 last week to assist with the expense of the hunt and the food distribution that would follow.

Donations from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Qikiqtani Inuit Association, and Baffin Fisheries Coalition covered the remaining $110,000 cost, Inookie said.