Gjoa Haven wants a piece of Boothia polar bear hunt

MIRIAM HILL

With a continued ban on polar bear hunting in M’Clintock Channel, Gjoa Haven hunters want to start hunting bears in the Gulf of Boothia, but first they want to check with the Hunters and Trappers organizations of communities already hunting in the area.

In January 2001, a moratorium was placed on hunting bears in M’Clintock Channel, after preliminary numbers collected by the department of sustainable development suggested a population of 284 animals, a number which could not sustain a hunt.

Numbers released earlier this month confirmed that amount, meaning the moratorium will likely continue while a long-term management plan is drawn up for the area.

Gjoa Haven hunters were the hardest hit by the ban because they had only one area in which to hunt: M’Clintock Channel. The area was shared with Taloyoak and Cambridge Bay, communities that both had another bear population from which to harvest.

But the numbers for the polar bear population in the Gulf of Boothia area look promising. Stephen Atkinson, the director of wildlife for the department of sustainable development, said the estimates stand at just over 1,500 animals.

“I must stress though, that those estimates have to go through a final technical review before they’re completed,” he said. That means they must be double-checked by officials both in and outside the department.

When the last population study was done in the Gulf of Boothia, about 20 years ago, there were an estimated 900 animals.

This bear boom could result in greater quotas for communities that hunt in the gulf. Kuugaarjuk, Igloolik, Repulse Bay, Taloyoak and Hall Beach all hunt there, sharing a quota of 41 tags.

About 450 tags are distributed each year throughout the territory.

Louie Kamookak, chairperson of the Gjoa Haven Hunters and Trappers Association, said his community wrote a letter to the Kugluktuk office of sustainable development in the fall asking for permission to harvest two polar bears from M’Clintock Channel. The letter also asked for three more tags from different areas if other communities were willing to share.

He said they did not receive a response from the government, but officials say nothing can be announced until there has been consultation with the communities already harvesting in the gulf area. The communities have to come up with a management plan for the area and decide if extra tags can be allotted and who they should go to.

For Gjoa Haven hunters to get to the Gulf of Boothia they would travel about 200 miles, going through Taloyoak. To hunt in M’Clintock hunters only have to travel about 100 miles. Kamookak said Gjoa Haven hunters will hunt wherever they can, but want to make sure they don’t step on other communities’ toes.

“It’s good news,” Kamookak said, about the increased numbers in the gulf, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done before it’s good news for Gjoa Haven hunters.

Sustainable Development Minister Olayuk Akesuk said he couldn’t confirm whether a moratorium will remain in M’Clintock Channel, because the department is still working with the communities.

“We still have to do community consultation with the three communities and come up with a polar bear management plan,” he said.

The government would like to see a management plan in place for both the Gulf of Boothia and M’Clintock Channel by the end of the year. Akesuk said public consultations will begin in the spring.

But it’s the lack of communication that irks Kamookak. He said he had no idea new polar bear numbers had been released until someone sitting next to him on an airplane pointed out a newspaper article.

“You have to get something done at the community level before you decide to break the news that you have good news,” he said.

Akesuk said the government’s next step, after the numbers have been double-checked by officials, is to contact the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to seek approval of the Boothia bear population under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. That would allow American sport hunters to come to the area to hunt and then bring their trophies home.

There are four regions in Nunavut from which sports hunters can bring bears back to the U.S. — Lancaster Sound, Viscount Mellville Sound, Western Hudson Bay and Norwegian Bay. Guides typically charge about $10,000 for the chance to shoot a bear.

But Kamookak says his community is less worried about guiding dollars leaving the community and more concerned that youth will lose the chance the learn traditional ways of surviving on the land.

“Hunting skills, travelling skills are going to be lost for the younger generation,” he said.