Inuit warned to curb beluga hunting

Inuit must stop overhunting beluga immediately if they want to have whales to hunt in the future, says the co-chair of the marine mammal subcommittee of COSEWIC, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife.

This year, the committee looked at the health of all seven populations in the Canadian Arctic, and found only one, in the Beaufort Sea, is not at risk.

“All of the threats the northern populations [of beluga] face are associated with hunting. People can have an impact, and people who shoot large animals can cause them to disappear,” said Andrew Trites. “What will happen when the beluga are truly gone? What will we eat then? I think people have to think about that so they are never faced with that reality.”

There will likely be a moratorium this year on beluga hunting in the eastern Hudson Bay just as there has been for several years in the Ungava Bay. A recovery plan will explain how beluga can increase in numbers.

In the eastern Hudson Bay, the beluga population has declined by at least 50 per cent, continues to decline and could become extinct within 15 years.

According to COSEWIC, that’s because overhunting continues throughout its summer and migratory range.

“The whole problem is hunting,” Trites said.

As for beluga in Ungava Bay, there’s a good chance they are already extinct.

Good news comes from the Cumberland Sound, however, where the numbers of beluga have stabilized at about 1,550. The last time it was assessed by COSEWIC, this population was considered to be more at risk.

The 2003 quota of 41 appears to be sustainable, says COSEWIC, although there are concerns about increased small vessel traffic and outboard motor noises, as well as fishery removals of Greenland halibut, which beluga feed on.

The western Hudson Bay beluga population appears to be numerous, around 25,000 animals, but COSEWIC is nervous because last year there were more animals hunted than ever before: a total of 502 from the Hudson coast and South Baffin animals, 62 in Sanikiluaq and at least 200 in the Hudson Strait, in the Western Hudson Bay, South Baffin, Sanikiluaq and along the Hudson Strait.

“We’re worried about it because as populations decline [in other beluga stocks], people will go there,” Trites said.

Hunters from Nunavik have been encouraged to travel to the western Hudson Bay or Hudson Strait to hunt. Hunters in the western Hudson Bay have hunted more beluga, as well, to produce muktuk to send to Nunavik.

“You’re transferring more hunting and less sustainable levels of hunting. Is that really the right way to go, that people destroy the resource in their backyard, so now they’re going over to another one? It’s probably a mistake. It’s pretty clear that the same thing will happen. Look at cod. They were overfished and now everyone is out of business,” Trites said.

The Beaufort Sea, with a population of over 40,000 beluga, only has a hunt of 186 a year.

Beluga in the Eastern High Arctic-Baffin Bay are also numerous, but Greenland takes up to 10,000 animals a year.

“That’s just what is reported,” Trites said. “There’s a serious problem, a severe threat to the population.”

Last year, Trites was surprised to see beluga muktuk on the menu in an Iqaluit restaurant.

“When you look at the history of wildlife populations, most of them don’t get into any trouble when it’s just a subsistence take, but as you put economic value on it, there’s a different motivation for why you’re taking it. You’re not just taking it to fill yourself, but to fill your wallet, and that can lead to all kinds of abuses of quotas,” he said.

COSEWIC will reassess beluga populations if it hears about over-hunting of endangered populations.

COSEWIC is now studying narwhal and walrus, where hunting pressure is also apparently having a negative impact on stocks, and will produce a status report in six to 18 months.