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 Bowhead whale research is nearing completion, and new information is emerging about the population. If it is just one, like experts say, it could change harvesting rules. - photo courtesy of DFO |
If true, this news would be a bombshell for the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.
"We are looking at one huge population. We don't have two different populations," said Susan Cosens, a bowhead researcher with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in an interview from her Winnipeg office last week. "There is lots of new information coming out."
Elder agrees
At least one Repulse Bay elder and whale hunter confirms what the new research is suggesting.
"There is one group of bowhead whales that travels in the Arctic," Abraham Tagoona said told Nunavut News/North through a translator.
The idea there is just one large group of bowheads, is something he said Inuit hunters always knew and never questioned.
He is a bowhead whale hunter, but doesn't go out much any more. Because of their large size, he admits he often feared hunting them. But just the thought of catching one and tasting its delicious muqqtuq helped him overcome his fear.
Before this new single-population theory was voiced in scientific circles, the NWMB understood there were 345 bowheads in the Hudson Bay- Foxe Basin stock, and about 375 bowheads in the Baffin Bay-Davis Strait area.
Because it's believed those were two different bowhead whale populations, harvest rules were as follows: one whale could be harvested every 2-4 years out of the Hudson area and one every 13 years from Davis Strait.
The board officials are still grappling with the new single-population theory.
"This new information could throw a real curve to everything we're doing," said Jim Noble, chief operating officer for the board.
The single-population theory could alter timing of harvesting "substantially" he said, "if we're dealing with one population."
He said communities will need to question the timing of hunts if the theory is true.
"Why would you have such a big change?" he said.
"Does that increase our harvest? No. But how can you say it's the same population and you can only hunt one every 13 years in Davis Strait?"
The board hadn't yet reviewed the research findings, so he couldn't predict what the result may be.
"In a general sense, the numbers coming back from our surveys are much better than what is in the current published literature," said Cosens.
"When we update our numbers, the bowhead whale situation will look a whole lot better than it does now."
The bowhead whale, called arvik or arviq by Inuit, has played an important role in the traditional way of life of the region's residents.
Its numbers were greatly depleted by commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin stock had 600 bowheads prior to 1860 when commercial whaling ruled the waves.
The Baffin Bay-Davis Strait stock likely numbered around 12,000 in 1825, according to the NWMB.
Inuit have used the bowhead whale for food, fuel, shelter and other products for more than 2,000 years.
The bowhead hunt remains a symbolic and spiritual link to Inuit culture.
