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Sunday 05.02.2012

Nunavut cuts polar bear hunt in Baffin Bay

The decreased hunt will likely boost Canada’s case at a conference of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species in Qatar next week.

Daniel Shewchuk, the Nunavut environment minister, announced March 5 that the annual hunting quota for the Baffin Bay sub-population of polar bear will drop from 105 to 65 over the next four years, reports the Nunatsiaq News.



Since 2004, 105 polar bear tags have been distributed every year to hunters and trappers organizations in Clyde River, Pond Inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq.

This July, the Government of Nunavut will issue only 95 tags.

After that, the quota will drop by 10 tags a year until the annual quota of 65 is reached.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. immediately issued a press release saying they’re “disappointed” by the minister’s decision.

The NTI press release said the organization wants the GN to compensate hunters from the affected communities for the loss.

But Shewchuk said the GN won’t compensate hunters, nor was compensation part of the GN’s discussions with the federal government on the matter.

Shewchuk said that when the Baffin Bay quota rose from 64 to 105 in 2004, Nunavut did not know how many bears from the population were harvested by hunters from Greenland.

After Greenland released its estimated harvest numbers, biologists became concerned that the population was being overharvested.

“Our management must respond to the best possible information we have on a population at any given time,” Shewchuk said.

Greenland has since reduced its annual take.

Shewchuk said he thinks lowering the quota will convince the federal government to reconsider its moratorium on the export of polar bear parts harvested from Baffin Bay bears.

The Canadian Wildlife Service stopped issuing export permits for polar bear parts from Baffin Bay in December 2009.

“We hope that by us taking this action to Environment Canada, we can lift the ban sooner rather than later,” he said.

At his March 5 press conference, Shewchuk said he was currently drafting a letter on the issue to Jim Prentice, the federal environment minister.

At the same time, the decreased hunt will likely boost Canada’s case at a conference of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species in Qatar next week.

Nations attending that meeting will decide whether to classify the polar bear as an endangered species and outlaw international trade in their products.

Canada opposes that classification.

Shewchuk acknowledged that the GN’s quota decision would not be popular with hunters.

“The communities aren’t happy about the direction we’re taking, but all stakeholders were involved in coming to this decision,” he said.

The process of changing the quota involved more than a year of meetings with Nunavut Tunngavik and the affected hunters and trappers organizations. and other participants

At a public hearing last fall, organized by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, hunters from the affected communities threatened a revolt against any reduced quota.