Wildlife board hearings on Nunavut walrus quota postponed

The NWMB has postponed public hearings into a DFO-proposed Foxe Basin management unit and quota pending further consultations with community members in Hall Beach, Igloolik and beyond. (PHOTO BY NIORE IQALUKJUAK)

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board has postponed upcoming public hearings to discuss a new harvesting quota for Foxe Basin walrus in order to allow wider consultation on the matter.

Nunatsiaq News reported last week that the NWMB was planning to hold public hearings in Igloolik Jan. 14 and Jan. 15 to discuss a new limit of 116 walrus for the area and a new management unit that takes in the bulk of Foxe Basin, including the communities of Igloolik and Hall Beach.

The proposed quota was submitted to the NWMB by Fisheries and Oceans Canada citing potential “conservation concerns with the sustainability of current harvest levels for the Foxe Basin stocks.”

According to a 2011 aerial survey, the DFO estimates the number of walrus in Foxe Basin at roughly 13,500 animals.

But according to an NWMB notice published in media Jan. 9, the meetings have been postponed temporarily “to ensure that the public and the hearing parties have a full opportunity to provide arguments and evidence regarding the adequacy of the consultation process.”

That may have been prompted by widespread denunciation of the quota from local and territorial organizations.

Letters to the NWMB from hunters and trappers groups in Igloolik and Hall Beach as well as from the Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. oppose the new quota for various reasons, including the quality of the most recent walrus population survey.

The QWB says a quota for walrus in that area is premature. This group prefers to focus on building “equitable and interactive” relationships between partners involved in an on-going walrus management plan — meaning hunters, wildlife groups, land claim organizations, government scientists and bureaucrats.

“This will be needed in order to support a more realistic [total allowable harvest] into the future,” said a Dec. 17 letter from James Qillaq, chair of the QWB.

The wildlife board suggests the NWMB postpone hearings over a quota until the DFO and the walrus working group can revisit the walrus management plan with “a renewed focus on community engagement and education.”

The QWB also suggested the previous population survey was hampered by weather and limited geography — because walrus are so mobile — and that the DFO should organize a new population survey, designed with community input, which takes in the entire Foxe Basin region.

The Hall Beach hunters and trappers organization wrote a letter to the NWMB the same day saying members unanimously oppose the quota.

“Hall Beach HTO is confused over this request as DFO documents have mentioned there ‘might be a conservation concern.’ This is confusing as previous meetings with survey participants and follow up meetings, the HTO Board was informed that the population is stable and not declining,” the Hall Beach letter said.

Manasie Naullaq, who signed the Hall Beach letter on behalf of the HTO, goes on to say that Inuit in the area have been harvesting fewer and fewer walrus annually anyway because there are fewer dog teams and walrus meat was often used to feed sled dogs.

But Igloolik and Hall Beach hunters continue to harvest walrus to make traditional igunaq — fermented walrus — for local families, elders and people across Nunavut.

A letter from David Irngaut, representing Igloolik hunters and trappers, said walrus hunting goes back generations and Igloolik hunters feel as though the proposed quota is based neither on sound science nor on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.

“Our ancestors, our fathers and our grandfathers and their ancestors used the walrus meat to feed their children up to now, that is why we Inuit live up to now,” says the Irngaut letter.

“We share walrus meat with other communities all over Nunavut.”

As for NTI, their Dec. 16 letter said any restrictions on Inuit walrus hunting should be postponed until “adequate consultation has occurred” with community members.

“Communities are supportive of the management plan process but do not support the total allowable harvest recommendation due to lack of communication and consensus on management boundaries, survey design and survey results,” the NTI letter said.

The NWMB says meetings to discuss Foxe Basin walrus will be rescheduled, likely in spring 2015.