Daniel T'seleie
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Aug 29/05) - A study on the economic viability of commercial muskox and caribou harvests in Nunavut is planned to start this fall.

Commercial muskox harvesting in the Kitikmeot and caribou harvesting in the Kivalliq have sent meat as far south as the United States. The government study will make sure these industries are sustainable, but will also look at potential ways to expand.

"What can we do with the hides from muskox?" asks Charles Hunter, senior policy analyst with the Department of Economic Development and Transportation. "Could something be done with the horns?"

Those are some of the questions the study will hope to answer.

Kivalliq Foods, which processes and sells caribou meat harvested by residents of Coral Harbour, only sells the caribou meat. They also sell Arctic char.

The company's general manager, Brian Schindel, said there may be markets for caribou meat which have not been tapped into yet.

"Any time one has a good product, there is always a demand for it," he said in an e-mail.

Right now there are not a lot of companies exporting animal products made or processed in a "factory setting."

"This is a good thing," Schindel said. "There is a limited supply of caribou. It is not like farmed game animals."

The study was approved under the Agricultural Policy Framework Initiative, an agreement signed between the federal and territorial governments.