NTI: Move to list polar bears under SARA “disappointing”

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. says Ottawa’s move to list polar bears under its Species at Risk Act is “disappointing” and implies Nunavut hunters aren’t obeying the current regulations designed to keep the species healthy. (FILE PHOTO)

”Disappointing” is how Gabriel Nirlungayuk, director of wildlife for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., describes a recent move by the federal environment department to add polar bears to Canada’s list of endangered species.

The justification for listing polar bears as a species “of special concern” under the Species of Risk Act is flawed, Nirlungayuk said.

That’s because, despite the fear that that climate change is hurting bear numbers, Nunavummiut are seeing more polar bears than ever.

As for allegations of over-hunting, the polar bear population has grown from 8,000 animals 40 or 50 years ago — according to scientists’ own estimates — to more than 15,000 today, Nirlungayuk said.

“They chose not to look at science” in seeking to list the polar bears as a species “of special concern,” he said.

If the SARA listing proceeds, within three years a management plan must be developed — and that’s another stickler for Nirlungayuk.

Polar bear numbers in Nunavut have been rising, he said, because “we have a very good polar bear management system already.”

The move to demand another management plan is like saying the current polar bear system “isn’t good enough.”

It also undermines the co-operation shown by Inuit who observe the quotas and other guidelines for polar bear hunts.

“Inuit are abiding by those regulations,” Nirlungayuk said.

Listing polar bears under SARA may also have a negative effect on how Inuit are regarded globally — as hunters of a species on the brink of extinction.

“That’s what we don’t need,” Nirlungayuk said, because it implies Inuit aren’t managing the polar bear hunt and population numbers — when they are.

It’s been in Nunavut’s own interest to maintain a sustainable polar bear hunt to avoid more trade bans on the export of polar bear pelts.

Both the European Union and the United States have already banned the import of polar bear trophies from Baffin Bay and some other polar bear sub-populations.

NTI plans to submit comments to the federal government by Aug. 2, asking that the listing not go ahead.

At the same time, Nirlungayuk acknowledges that Nunavik still has some work to do on polar bear management.

In Nunavik, as many as 60 polar bears were hunted in the southeastern Hudson Bay this past year.

There’s no management plan under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, just a loose overall quota of 62 polar bears a year for Cree, Naskapi and Inuit.

NTI sees the large hunt along Nunavik’s Hudson Bay coast as jeopardizing the population of polar bears that is also hunted by Nunavut residents from Sanikiluaq who observe quotas to prevent over-harvesting, Nirlungayuk said.

NTI is in discussions with Nunavik wildlife management authorities on that issue, he said.