Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 23/98) - The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board reported that it felt fairly positive following a visit from the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans David Anderson.

"I think the minister learned a lot when he came up here and when he visited Pangnirtung," said Dan Pike, the director of wildlife management for the NWMB.

"He saw that there really was an economy here. It's not just a bunch of politicians pushing for more fish. There are people who need jobs," said Pike.

Due to the relatively short length of Anderson's visit at the beginning of November, the board realized it had to push ahead on its most focal issues while it had the minister's full attention.

Pike said they talked about the need for increased levels of science and assessment of the marine mammals and fish in Nunavut and discussed the role the fishery played in the economic development of the territory.

The contentious issue of the turbot allocation was brought to the table but, because the matter was still very much tied up in the country's courts, very little progress was made.

Pike noted however, that a proposed research survey on turbot and ground fish in Davis Strait met with very favourable response from Anderson. Pike said that as a result, the NWMB was hopeful that some kind of joint project with Greenland to count the stocks would go ahead in the next few years.

"There haven't been any surveys conducted here since about 1986. It's fine to argue about these allocation issues, but you need to figure out the resource base first."

The possibility of Canada joining international forums designed to manage marine mammals was also considered during the two-day briefing.

"We share a number of marine mammal stocks with other countries and we have an international regime for beluga and narwhals, but not seals, bowheads, bears and other species," said Pike. He explained that unless Canada joined an international management group, species like the harp seal could be hunted to endangered levels if left unprotected and harvested by different countries.

Pike said the minister also brought good news with him when he travelled to Nunavut's capital by announcing that he had accepted the NWMB's recommendation to lift the quotas on belugas in the south Baffin and narwhals across Nunavut.

Pike explained that based on scientific and traditional knowledge, they felt the stocks were not declining and that a monitoring system worked out between the affected communities and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans would ensure that residents hunted responsibly.