DFO warns Kugaaruk narwhal hunters

Narwhal hunters in Kugaaruk are being let off the hook. Instead of heavy fines or even imprisonment, they’re receiving letters of warning from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans for overhunting narwhal last year.

They’ll also be allowed to put legal tags from communities that did not go over their narwhal quota on their tusks.

Although Kugaaruk hunters have applied for a quota-free community-based management system for their narwhal hunt, a community can only qualify for removal of its quotas if it adopts rules which address the following concerns:

• Each community must have a recording system for all narwhal stuck, landed and lost;

• Every hunter who kills a narwhal must obtain and complete a narwhal tag;

• The Hunters and Trappers Association must have regulations to conserve stocks and minimize wastage — “with no overharvesting.”