Nunavut caribou hunters fear impact of NWT harvest

Mathieu Dumont, the Government of Nunavut’s regional wildlife biologist for the Kitikmeot, says encouraging hunters from the Northwest Territories to hunt caribou herds that are shared between the NWT and Nunavut could backfire. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

There’s unease now among hunters and wildlife managers in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut who fear that Northwest Territories hunters may damage herds shared shared by the two territories.

Following a Jan. 1 ban on hunting caribou from the Bathurst herd in the Northwest Territories, the Government of the NWT wants the territories hunters to catch caribou from the Ahiak and Bluenose East herds, which are shared with Nunavut.

The Bathurst herd has experienced a severe decline in its numbers, from 186,000 in 2006 to less than 32,000 in 2009.

The hunting ban applies to aboriginal and non-aboriginal hunters from the north shore of Great Slave Lake to the boundary with Nunavut.

But hunting from the Bluenose East and Ahiak herds may not be the solution to decline of the Bathurst herd because these two other shared herds are although also thought to be in decline, said Mathieu Dumont, the Government of Nunavut’s regional wildlife biologist for the Kitikmeot.

“All the herds have been declining and the extent of this is not very well known,” Dumont said in an interview this week from Kuguluktuk. “The added impact [of additional hunting] could lead to further declines.”

Surveys of the shared herds aren’t up to date, and a GN survey of the Bluenose East herd, the one mainly hunted by Kugluktuk hunters, was unsuccessful this past summer, Dumont said.

But fearing declines in the numbers of caribou, Agoniatiit hunters and trappers association in Kugluktuk has already switched its community caribou hunts to hunts of the more plentiful muskox on Victoria island.

The HTA also wrote a letter to Michael Miltenberger, the NWT’s environment minister, saying “the decision to harvest from other caribou herds as a measure to compensate the harvesting ban on the Bathurst caribou winter range is not appropriate considering the similar declining trends experienced by the caribou herds.”

Representatives from the HTA and Kitikmeot Regional Wildlife Board plan to attend an public hearing later htis month in Bechoko, NWT on caribou management of the Bathurst, Bluenose East and Ahiak in the North Slave region to voice their concerns about the hunting of these shared caribou herds.

Attima Hadlari, president of the wildlife board, wrote a letter to the Wek’eezhii Renewable Resource Board, which is holding the public hearings.

He said sthe option to “divert pressure from the Bathurst herd on to other herds in Nunavut should only be done if there is solid information on the population estimate and the status of the herd along with consultation and support from the communities that are directly affected.”

To strengthen caribou management during a time when caribou herds appear to be in decline, the GN plans to consult hunters and other concerned parties across the territory this spring about its new caribou management plan.

This aim of this plan is to establish the general direction that the territory wants to follow, Dumont said.

“It’s a milestone,” Dumont said of the plan, noting that the final will include an implementation measures and other actions.

The final plan shoukd help guide Nunavut management of many of the herds in the Kitikmeot region, including those which are shared with the NWT.