Greenland backs down on bird-hunt quotas

The Greenland home rule government has decided to allow hunting of common eider and guillemot during their breeding seasons. This new decision replaces the 2001 Bird Protection Act, which set limits on when the birds can be harvested.

Eiders in West Greenland have declined by about 80 per cent over the past 40 years, while some colonies of guillemots have dropped drastically over the same period.

An awareness campaign called “Tulugaq” was supposed to sensitize Greenlandic hunters and the population at large to the need for hunting regulations.

“Apparently, the campaign hasn’t reached either the new government or the fishers’ and hunters’ organization, KNAPK, as the new government decision to allow hunting of the declining bird species during the breeding season was passed through parliament allegedly as a result of pressure from KNAPK,” says the World Wildlife Federation’s Arctic Bulletin.