New year, old quota

ODILE NELSON

Despite the hopes of Nunavik’s hunters, the federal government will not increase the region’s beluga harvest quota for 2003.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans first announced its decision February 25 to 27 during the Hunting, Fishing and Trapping Association annual general meeting in Kuujjuaq, said Michel Tremblay, a senior advisor with the DFO’s Quebec aboriginal fisheries division.

In a letter to Nunavik’s regional organizations dated May 6, the department explained the 2002 beluga management plan, part of a multi-year strategy, will remain in place for 2003 because there is no scientific evidence that beluga stocks are increasing.

“Since there has not been a significant change to scientific data pertaining to the estimates of the beluga stocks population, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans decided to maintain for 2003 the same amended plan that was put in place for the 2002 season,” the letter reads.

The federal department will send out a similar letter to all Nunavik households in the coming weeks, Tremblay said.

The Institut Maurice-Lamontagne in Mont-Joli, Que., uses scientific techniques such as satellite tagging to provide the DFO with beluga estimates in the Nunavik region. A beluga management team, involving Inuit hunters and elders, also informs the DFO’s decision but it is ultimately the scientific evidence that sets the quota.

Tremblay said the DFO’s aim is to involve Inuit in any quota decision.

“We try to work with the hunters. We try to inform the hunters. We have to sensitize them that if they want to have the beluga stay there for the future, for the children, the hunters now have to look at it that way. We’re not looking for repression. We’re looking for comprehension,” he said.

However, Paulusi Novalinga, head of Nunavik’s Hunters and Trappers Association, said he was disappointed by the decision.

“We would like to see an increase in the quota. We live in a big region, our numbers are growing and it’s never really been acceptable to Inuit hunters,” Novalinga said.

Nunavik’s regional quota for 2003 will remain at 210 beluga. The James Bay, Long Island and Hudson Strait areas are all open to hunting but the Ungava Bay and Eastern Hudson Bay are closed. Each community is limited to 15 beluga and must hunt these in prescribed regions.