Nunavik’s beluga plan at a glance

The introduction to the 2005 beluga management plan for Nunavik says it “reflects the most recent traditional and scientific knowledge, as well as many years of co-management between Nunavik and Nunavut Inuit and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.”

According to the plan, Nunavik hunters may kill:

* 135 belugas in Hudson Strait;
* 10 belugas in Long Island and James Bay areas;
* 15 belugas in the Ottawa Islands; and
* 25 belugas in the Belcher Islands prior to July 1, as well as 25 in the Western Hudson Bay (but the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board “must first approve the proposed additional harvest” in these zones).

The plan says harvests in the Hudson Strait must remain at or below 135 whales for recovery to begin in the Eastern Hudson Bay stock. No quotas are allocated for belugas in Eastern Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay.

The plan says it is “important to determine when the Belcher Islands (Sanikiluaq) and Ottawa Islands hunts take place” and to know how many of the belugas there belong to the endangered Eastern Hudson Bay stock: “A trend of increasing harvests of Sanikiluaq beluga or an increase in the proportion of Eastern Hudson Bay animals in the Sanikiluaq harvest would be cause for concern.”

The management measures for areas where hunting is allowed include:

* Protection of females, calves and juveniles;
* Control of netting;
* Harpoon to be used first;
* Use of appropriate rifles;
* Use of proper equipment to retrieve the whales;
* No wastage of mattak and meat;
* Sharing of edible parts;
* Jaw and skin samples must be provided from each harvested beluga for genetic studies.