HTO lobbies against dragging

Koalie Kooneeliusie, chairman of Qikiqtarjuaq’s Nattivak Hunters and Trappers Association board, and its secretary-treasurer, Samuel Nuqingaq, are not happy about the practice of dragging for fish by trawlers in the fishing zones OA and OB off Baffin Island.

The pair recently met in Ottawa with Nunavut Member of Parliament Nancy Karetak-Lindell and Jose Kusugak, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, to discuss the issue.

Factory trawlers drag nets across the ocean floor for shrimp and other fish. The process has a kind of vacuum effect.

“The ocean floor is being destroyed by net dragging,” Kusuhak said, “This is an issue that is vital to confront, and we must discuss it, and obtain a mandate from you to be able to communicate the nature of the issue to the government of Canada in order to preserve our way of life and the environment.”

Kusugak said he intended to speak out against the practice at the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. annual general meeting in Rankin Inlet this week.