Beluga hunt will exceed new increased limits

MONTREAL – Preliminary numbers for the 2001 beluga harvest reveal a growing hunger for the sweet taste of muktuk in Nunavik.

Nunavik’s new beluga management plan, which was negotiated last spring, increased the region’s total allowable beluga harvest to 370 from 290 animals.

But the final number of beluga actually killed in Nunavik in 2001 will exceed even this new, higher figure.

Preliminary figures furnished by the federal department of fisheries and oceans indicate that 371 beluga were killed in Nunavik in 2001. While that’s just one more animal than the plan allows, several communities exceeded their limits. And even these figures may be inaccurate due to under-reporting.

For example, the reported harvest in the beluga-rich community of Ivujivik was 13 animals – an unbelievably low number.

Hunters in Ivujivik, Salluit, Kangiqsujuaq and Quaqtaq are supposed to limit their catch to 30 beluga each – five more than in the past.

But even before the official start date of the 2001 season, hunters in Quaqtaq had killed 37 beluga, while in Salluit they had landed 43. This meant these two Hudson Strait communities had exceeded their yearly allowable catch from the start.

At the end of the beluga season, Quaqtaq, a community that had opposed the terms of the new management plan, reported killing 59 animals, and Salluit had reported 54.

While the previous beluga management plan set a limit of 18 beluga in communities along the Eastern Hudson Bay, and 10 in communities along the Ungava Bay, the new plan now gives these communities 25 beluga each.

But in 2001, Akulivik reported a harvest of 32 animals and Puvirnituq 49.

Only communities along the Ungava Bay kept within their limits, reporting a catch of less than 25 beluga each.

According to the new beluga management plan, communities were also to establish a code of conduct, educate hunters and co-operate with fishery guardians and scientists in the reporting and sampling of kills.

However, at the December meeting of the KRG council, several councillors said sampling was down, due to the difficulty of getting sampling kits. Others complained that boozing had gone on during the beluga hunt.

And there’s still no agreement about how many beluga there are. Many Nunavimmiut doubt the results of aerial surveys that show depleted numbers of beluga along the Eastern Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay coasts.

“They can’t see what we can see,” said Sarollie Weetaluktuk, a municipal councillor from Inukjuak.

Yet, in 2001, when hunters reported sightings of beluga, even their numbers showed enormous differences.

In Kuujjuaraapik, 2,160 beluga were sighted, while in neighbouring Umiujaq only 300 were seen.

In Kangiqsujuaq, hunters reported seeing 2,876 beluga, while in Ivujivik, a place well-known for its hordes of migrating beluga, hunters said they saw only 53 animals.

Only a few hundred beluga were sighted in the Ungava Bay, reflecting the low population numbers usually cited by wildlife biologists.

DFO official Michel Tremblay admitted there is still a “large gap” between how the scientists and hunters think population surveys should be conducted and how they see the beluga stock’s health.

“Everyone wants to have a beluga hunt, but the species needs to be protected. Every time we come out with reduced population figures or limits, people are unhappy,” Tremblay said.

He added that the commitment to conserve beluga stocks should come from the communities.

To encourage sound management of the Nunavik’s beluga stock, regional and federal officials want to organize a tour this winter by elders who would share traditional knowledge about beluga.

“We will use their knowledge and learn from them what their experiences were,” said Sandy Gordon, head of the Kativik Regional Government’s renewable resources department.

This tour would also be a way to bring the region’s beluga management plan back on track before the 2002 season starts in late June.