Management zones increased to give hunters better access
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Arviat (Mar 28/01) - A local biologist says the rise in muskox population is a testament to resource management skills of local hunters.
The largest Northern survey conducted to date, shows the number of muskox has increased in the central and northern Kivalliq areas, says biologist Mitch Campbell.
The recent study, which included areas from Ford Lake to the northern Gary Lakes, and from Dubawnt Lake in the west to Qamanirjuaq Lake in the east, confirms the animals are widening their traditional boundaries.
Campbell, who works with the Department of Sustainable Development's Arviat office, says the survey was prompted by concerns passed on by local HTOs and the Keewatin Wildlife Federation.
"It was a true part of co-management with concerns coming from the communities through their HTOs about muskox expanding their range," says Campbell.
"Local hunters felt they no longer had to travel so far to legally hunt muskox."
Campbell says the population increase was most obvious in the Central Kivalliq survey, which cost $70,000 to conduct. I want to make it clear these are preliminary figures which have yet to be double-checked. "
In muskox Zone MX21, the population has risen to 2,500 in July, 1999, from 1,040 in July, 1991.
"They've moved out into different areas in the same densities because of the dramatic rise in population."
Campbell says the survey numbers have already been used by the Keewatin Wildlife Federation to increase the size of the management zone to allow hunters access closer to their communities. Although those numbers were released shortly after the survey was conducted, the official government file report has yet to be issued.
"The file report is checked and double-checked by different biologists within the department to ensure the values are as pristine as possibly.
"We do the calculations in the interim and come up with estimates so we can get the information back to the HTOs as quickly as possible."
