Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit ( Jun 12/00) - Sometimes, decisions about wildlife management in Nunavut are based on outdated or incomplete reports compiled by southern scientists who spend a minimal amount of time in the territory.

This can lead to inappropriate laws or acts being created.

But, following the release of the most comprehensive traditional knowledge study published to date, those days are on their way to becoming a thing of the past.

Called the Final Report of the Inuit Bowhead Knowledge Study, the document, compiled by a committee struck by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, includes everything from the migration patterns of bowhead whales in Nunavut waters to their calving and feeding grounds to the history of their harvest by Inuit and commercial whalers.

Based on more than 250 interviews with hunters and elders from 18 communities familiar with bowhead whales, the report was mandated under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (Article 5.5). A total of $500,000 in funding was allocated to the NWMB to conduct the study.

Meeka Mike, a member of the committee that worked on the report for more than five years, said the document was an extremely valuable tool on many different levels.

"We needed to get it done so there would be no more rules and regulations made without information from the hunters," said Mike.

"We had to make it in a way that it could be used for schools, colleges, for people who make decisions on wildlife, for departments like (the Department of Fisheries and Oceans) or (the Department of Sustainable Development) or Inuit organizations," said Mike.

She also explained that the report was much more comprehensive than any other document published on bowhead whales because it incorporated first-hand knowledge from Inuit residents of the territory who were observing the mammals on a regular basis.

"There's quite a bit that you wouldn't see in a research book," she said.

Ben Kovic, the chair of the NWMB, agreed.

"This is where traditional knowledge comes into play. You don't have that kind of information from scientific knowledge," said Kovic.

He also commended the document on the role it will play in allowing interested parties to better manage the bowhead population in the future.