Practice restraint, Ivujivik beluga hunters urged

In Ivujivik, hunters often see pods of 300 belugas swimming right by their community, so everyone goes out and hunts as many whales as possible, says one hunter — no matter what the quota for the community is.

People need the belugas to survive, the hunter says, because store food is too expensive, and he doesn’t believe belugas are close to extinction, anyway.

But hunters in Ivujivik are now being asked to practice more self-control.

During this month’s migration of beluga, when thousands of belugas from the robust Western Hudson Bay stock, joined by others from the much smaller Eastern Hudson Bay population, pour right by Ivujivik into the Hudson Strait, the community’s hunters are being asked to let them swim by.

That’s because hunters in Ivujivik have already killed 11 belugas — as many as they are allowed take in 2005 from the Hudson Strait.

Last spring, Nunavik’s mayors decided to split the Hudson Strait’s annual beluga quota of 135 equally among the region’s 14 communities, so each community would be able to hunt 11 in the Hudson Strait. Not long after that, in Salluit, hunters recorded 22 beluga kills — twice the number agreed on.

Last week, the total unofficial number of belugas hunted in the Hudson Strait was 64 — 15 for Kuujjuaq, 11 for Kangiqsujuaq, two for Aupaluk and Quaqtaq, one for Inukjuak and Akulivik and none for Tasiujaq, Kangirsuk, Puvirnituq, Umiujaq and Kuujjuraapik. This means there are only 70 more belugas from the Hudson Strait left to divide, and many communities won’t end up with 11.

According to the 2005 beluga management plan, the federal department of fisheries and oceans will close the Hudson Strait to all beluga hunting when 135 animals have been killed there. The DFO will send in agents to enforce this closure.

The problem for hunters is that both the Eastern Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay coasts were closed to all beluga hunting for the first time ever. These two populations are considered to be “endangered” species and at risk of extinction.

The management plan says Nunavik hunters should travel to either to Long Island and James Bay or to Ottawa Island, south of Baffin Island, to hunt more belugas. The plan also says Nunavik hunters could take 50 from Sanikiluaq before July 1 and 25 from the Western Hudson Bay.

But, even before the end of the 2005 beluga hunt, things haven’t worked out quite that way because:

* Nunavut didn’t grant permission for Nunavik hunters to hunt in their waters;
* Five belugas were killed in Ungava Bay, where there are likely less than 200 whales left;
* 12 were hunted at King George Island, south of Inukjuak an island, which is jointly shared by Nunavut and Nunavik;
* Eight more were killed at Long Island than permitted by the management plan; and,
* One beluga was killed in the Eastern Hudson Bay.

Michel Tremblay from the DFO aboriginal fisheries branch in Quebec City said the five instances of beluga kills from Ungava Bay are presently under investigation.

“It’s unfortunate that this happened, but we can’t control everything. We hope people control themselves. We don’t have a choice — the law on species at risk obliges us to act. In certain areas where there’s to be no hunt, there’s no hunt.”

Those who are found breaking the law face fines.

These hunters are also contributing to the total extinction of belugas in Ungava Bay, says the DFO. The same also applies to hunters in the Eastern Hudson Bay, the DFO cautions: if the beluga hunt is not stopped in the Eastern Hudson Bay, and the population allowed to recover, no belugas will be left there in 15 years.

In the case of the belugas killed at King George, Tremblay said tests are being done to determine which stock the whales belonged to — the healthy and numerous Western Hudson Bay population or the depleted Eastern Hudson Bay group. The results should be in by the end of the month.

“If it’s from the Eastern Hudson Bay, it’s a big problem. If it’s from the Western Hudson Bay, it’s not a problem,” he said.

Tremblay said fisheries guardians report every week the new numbers of beluga hunted through the Kativik Regional Government to the DFO.

But Nunavik has a long coastline, and, even if there were more agents, say, four per community instead of the current one per community, Tremblay believes there would still be hunters hunting belugas where they shouldn’t, just as some fishermen in the Maritimes flout the closure of the cod fishery.
“I think that it’s too bad five [belugas] were killed in Ungava, but, all things considered, Inuit are doing a good job.”