Greenland hunters mourn quotas

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS

Pavia Nielsen, a hunter from Uummannaq, came to Nuuk this week to talk about the impact of new limits on the traditional whale hunt in Greenland.

Earlier this year, researchers and international marine mammal management bodies said beluga numbers in West Greenland were down by half and that the population of narwhals there had declined to only 25 per cent of its original size.

The need for limits on the whale hunt was backed up by the Canadian-Greenlandic Commission on Narwhals and Belugas.

In response, Greenland’s department for fisheries and hunting set a 2004-05 quota for 300 belugas and 200 narwhals in western Greenland.

“The hunters have lost a lot, since the restriction on hunting beluga and narwhal hunt came into force,” said the hunter.

Nielsen came to Nuuk to make a speech at National Library, through a new project undertaken jointly by Inuit Circumpolar Conference Greenland, and KNAPK, the Greenlandic hunters and fishers organization.

“It´s really hard for hunters who haven’t got a quota,” Nielsen said. “You get depressed over that.”

Neilsen said he has lost a lot of his rights and he can’t provide for his family because he’s lost a major source of their income, although he still has his hunting equipment.