Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Coral Harbour (Aug 28/00) - The distribution of bowhead muktaaq has begun, two weeks after Coral Harbour hunters landed a 35-tonne whale in a tightly regulated hunt that ended on Aug. 11.

Several communities in the Kivalliq and Baffin regions have already requested their share of the muktaaq that is packed in community freezers in Coral Harbour. The chairperson of the local Hunters and Trappers Organization says they are sending it out as soon as requested.

"We are getting a lot of phone calls and faxes for the muktaaq," said Willie Nakoolak.

"We are just packaging it up to send to all of the Kivalliq communities and three communities in the Baffin."

Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Cape Dorset and Iglulik have all requested portions of the whale and Nakoolak says they are trying to divide it according to the population of the community.

Requests from Kitikmeot communities have yet to come in.

Both the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board have said they are pleased with the hunt.

"Everything went according to plan and the first reports say it went extremely well," said Burt Hunt, DFO's director for the Eastern Arctic area.

"The worst thing about it was probably the conditions, which were wet and cold."

Whalers and observers were held at the Leyson Point camp, about 90km from Coral Harbour, until Aug. 16 waiting for the weather to lift so they could head back to town and celebrate their catch.

More than 100 people were at the camp the day hunters landed the 12 meter, young male from the Northern Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin population.

That particular bowhead population was chosen after a recommendation from DFO suggested that it could withstand the stress of losing one whale.