Biologists say there may be fewer than 200 of species left in area

As of Sept. 1, it's been illegal for Nunavik hunters to hunt belugas in Ungava Bay.

The federal department of fisheries and oceans shut down the Ungava Bay area to all beluga hunting on Sept. 1, as agreed in the 2007 beluga management plan.

Only three of the Ungava Bay's quota of nine belugas had been caught before the closure – one in Kangiqsualujjuaq and two in Kangirsuk.

Wildlife biologists say there may be fewer than 200 belugas left in Ungava Bay. Genetic analysis of the whales caught this summer may show whether these belugas are from a separate stock, the DFO says.

Meanwhile, communities in the Hudson Strait inch closer to filling that zone's quota of 120, with about 102 taken and 18 remaining.

The latest figures for the numbers of belugas hunted in the Hudson Strait show:

• 12 for Kangirsuk, which is only supposed to take nine from the Hudson Strait;
• 19 for Kuujjuaq, which surpassed its quota for Hudson Strait of 13 by six;
• 16 in Kangiqsujuaq, which exceeded its quota of 15;
• 13 in Quaqtaq and seven in Ivujivik, which both had a quota of 15; and
• 33 in Salluit, which took 18 more belugas than its quota of 15.

According to the most recent statistics from the DFO, Akulivik has hunted none of its quota of eight belugas in the Hudson Strait. Puvirnituq has hunted only three of its 11.

Of the Ungava Bay communities, only Kuujjuaq and Kangirsuk have caught any belugas in the Hudson Strait.

For other communities to fill the rest of their quota in the Hudson Strait, there would have to be more than 40 belugas left in the quota for the Hudson Strait.

The DFO says 15 out of 23 belugas still remain in the quota for the Eastern Hudson Bay, five for the winter Hudson Strait hunt and 46 for James Bay, the Ottawa Islands and Nottingham Island, destinations that require Nunavik hunters to travel.