Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 01, 2007

KIVALLIQ - Bucking the trend of recent years, the GN's Department of Environment has reduced the harvest quota of one of the territory's polar bear populations.

The quota for Western Hudson's Bay polar bears has been reduced to 38 from 56 in a bid to save a population in decline.

The quota for Western Hudson's Bay polar bears has been reduced to 38 from 56 in a bid to save a population in decline. - photo courtesy of Peter Iqalukjuak

The area covers the communities of Arviat, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove.

"Our observations indicate that the Western Hudson Bay population is not doing well," Environment Minister Patterk Netser said.

He made the decision to reduce the quota on Sept. 21.

"The harvest figures are too high to keep the population stable," he said.

The quota had been increased to 56 from 47 only a few years ago.

Rene Tautu, manager of the Aqigiq HTO in Chesterfield Inlet, was not surprised to hear of the minister's decision, and said that the hunters in his community would no doubt have concerns.

"Chesterfield Inlet usually gets a lot of polar bears every year. It seems like it never changes, but we do see polar bears that are pretty skinny," Tautu said.

The Aqigiq HTO had a meeting planned with its members to collect feedback on the quota change.

Tautu said that no GN community consultations took place in Chesterfield Inlet on the matter, and he hopes that the territorial government will revisit the issue in the future.

"The people didn't say anything, and I would want them to have their say on this," Tautu said.

Dr. Ian Stirling, a research scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, has been studying the Western Hudson's Bay polar bear population for 25 years. Through the 1980s to the mid-'90s, Stirling observed a population that was relatively stable.

By 2004 his team saw numbers decrease to 935 from a 1987 estimate of 1,200 bears, and the number is "almost certainly lower than (935) by now," he said.

Five years ago he sounded the alarm bell with the GN, and is only now seeing action being taken.

The cause, Stirling said, is a climate that is steadily warming in Western Hudson's Bay. Temperatures have been rising at a rate of 0.3 C to 0.4 C a year, meaning that ice now breaks up three weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago.

Late spring and early summer, just before break up, is the most important hunting time for polar bears, as it's when ring seal pups are young and not on heightened alert for predators. It's the time of year when polar bears take on 70 to 80 per cent of the energy they will use for the year, Stirling said.

When the ice breaks up, the bears live off the stored fat for their four months on shore. With the ice breaking up earlier than normal, the polar bears lose a significant portion of hunting time at the most crucial point of the year.

In recent years, hunters in the Kivalliq have reported seeing more polar bears, and in places where they haven't seen them before.

Consequently, the conclusion is drawn that the population is stable. Not so, Stirling said. As polar bears wind up in poorer condition and become hungrier, they will look for alternative food sources and explore new areas.

"It's probably still too high," Stirling said of the new quota of 38 polar bears annually.

Netser admitted that his decision would not be popular, but said he had to do it for future generations.

The Department of Environment started a follow-up study of the population on Sept. 8. If numbers are lower than predicted, then quotas may have to be decreased again next year, Netser said.