Oceans North wants protected marine area in western Hudson Bay

This map shows, in green, where the western Hudson Bay belugas summer, with the arrows showing how the belugas then spread out over the eastern Arctic. (IMAGE COURTESY OF OCEANS NORTH)

A beluga whale swims in the Seal River estuary of western Hudson Bay, where the conservation group Oceans North wants the federal government to move on creating a national marine conservation area. (PHOTO COURTESY OF OCEANS NORTH)

The roughly 55,000 belugas that summer in western Hudson Bay need protection through a new national marine conservation area, the conservation group Oceans North said last week in a report.

The belugas, which migrate from their winter home south of Baffin Island into the Churchill, Seal, and Nelson river estuaries, comprise one of eight beluga populations in Canada.

But the western Hudson Bay group is the largest concentration of belugas in the world, and 28 per cent of the entire beluga population.

That’s why in 2017, the federal government said it wanted to create a national marine conservation area in western Hudson Bay, to help ensure its beluga population remains healthy, said Chris Debicki, vice president of policy development for Oceans North, in a blog posting on the organization’s report.

“It’s time for the federal government to make good on this promise,” Debicki said.

Oceans North wants the creation of this new conservation area by 2020.

“Not only will a national marine park protect belugas and other marine mammals, it will also provide economic benefits like jobs, infrastructure, research and increased tourism,” Debicki said.

The proposed marine conservation area, if extended from Manitoba into Nunavut, would address the rights of Inuit under the Nunavut Agreement, the 48-page report by Oceans North said.

In that case, the creation of the marine conservation area would also trigger an Inuit impact and benefits agreement with the Kivalliq Inuit organization.

But even if the boundary was not extended beyond the Manitoba border, Inuit marine harvesting rights would be recognized and upheld, said Oceans North in its report called “Western Hudson Bay and Its Beluga Estuaries: Protecting Abundance for a Sustainable Future.”

Hunters from the Kivalliq communities, including Arviat, the closest community to Manitoba, traditionally harvest belugas from the proposed conservation area.

If created, mineral, gas and oil exploration and development would be prohibited in the marine conservation area, and, while traditional harvesting rights would not affected, the area would be zoned.

Commercial uses could take place as long as they are ecologically sustainable, including fishing and shipping, but they could be prohibited in the special protection zones, “which must be put into place in each marine conservation area,” Oceans North said.

To move the creation of the conservation along, Oceans North said it wants Parks Canada to start working with the governments of Churchill, Manitoba, Ontario, Nunavut, Inuit organizations and regional First Nations, as well as with industry and other non-governmental organizations.

Oceans North also wants to see a steering committee formed to guide a feasibility assessment as well as consultations on extending the boundaries beyond Manitoba to include the beluga summering areas in Nunavut and Ontario.

Last August Ottawa and Inuit announced agreement on new, expanded boundaries for the proposed Tallurutiup Imanga Lancaster Soundmarine protected area.

Western Hudson Bay Report, Oceans North by NunatsiaqNews on Scribd