Nunavut sets new plan, zones, quotas for muskox hunt

Nunavut has a new management plan and quotas for the muskox hunt in the territory, which come into effect Sept. 1. (FILE PHOTO)

This map, released by the Government of Nunavut Aug. 31, shows the new muskox management zones for Nunavut.

New quotas for the muskox hunt come into effect throughout Nunavut Sept. 1 — and the Nunavut region that will still see the largest quota for muskox remains the Kitikmeot region, with more than 600 muskox allotted to the western Nunavut areas of Victoria Island, Kugluktuk and the mainland.

The Government of Nunavut revealed the new muskox management regulations Aug. 31, which come into effect today and set quotas for the hunt throughout the territory.

The regulations update the boundaries of management zones for muskox, and the total allowable harvests for each zone, the GN said.

“Together with our co-management partners and stakeholders in the affected communities, we have been able to develop a muskox management system that has the full support of all parties,” Johnny Mike, Nunavut’s environment minister, said in the GN release.

“This regime reflects current harvesting practices in Nunavut and updates older regulations that had not changed since division from the Northwest Territories.”

The new regulations also implement several decisions of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board concerning population boundaries, total allowable harvests and non-quota limitations, the release said.

Although western Nunavut still has a large number of muskox, hunters say it’s harder to find healthy numbers of the animals, known for their keen eyesight, warm fur and shovel-like hooves.

The “umingmait” or “animals with skin like a beard” adapted well to life in the polar desert for 90,000 years — but now there’s concern their health may be endangered.

An estimated 30,000 muskox roamed near Cambridge Bay in 2012, and biologists said then the roughly 400 tags that the Hunters and Trappers Organizatiom handed out every year for the commercial and sports hunts barely touched the population’s robust numbers.

But muskox no longer commonly roam near the community.

The commercial harvest was called off in 2012, and has yet to be reinstated.

Muskox are increasingly affected by lung worm — which can’t be passed on to people, but can weaken the animals.

As well, muskox are susceptible to cases of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, a bacterial infection, spreading from Banks Island in the Northwest Territories. The bacteria is usually found in livestock, such as pigs or turkeys.

In people, contact with the bacteria can cause rashes, skin lesions and even blood poisoning if the infection is not treated with antibiotics.

Some researchers have also suggested that, as a population, muskox may suffer from what’s called “inbreeding depression.”

This means that there’s a lack of fitness in the herd, a result of too much mating between related animals.

Add new predators and climate change to that mix, and muskox could be facing hard times even in western Nunavut, new research suggests.

Eight of the 13 management zones in Nunavut have a yearly quota, varying from 15 muskox to 400 muskox:

• Devon Island: 15

• Bathurst: 30

• Victoria Island: 400

• Boothia Peninsula: 66

• West of Kugluktuk: 20

• Northeast Mainland: 190

• Central Kitikmeot: 225

• Southern Mainland Kivalliq Group: 182