John Curran
Northern News Services

Pond Inlet (Jan 09/06) - Nunavut sealskins were hot commodities at the Dec. 17, 2005 Fur Harvesters Auction in North Bay, Ont.

The average price paid on the more than 6,500 pelts that sold was $72.65, with the best ones getting $142.50.

Ed Ferguson grades sealskins prior to the Fur Harvesters Auction in North Bay, Ont., where more than 6,500 pelts fetched a record average price of $72.65. - photo courtesy of Jim Gib

You have to go back to the 1970s if you want to find higher prices and that has folks like Pond Inlet's David Pitseolak and his son Jimmy hoping that will mean more money.

"Hunters should be getting more," said David. "Jimmy bought a new Ski-doo last year and gas is very expensive... we're still way behind."

In 2004, when the average auction rate hit $67.02, the Government of Nunavut approved a second payment of $10 per skin for hunters on top of the $45 to $50 each initially received when they sold to wildlife officers.

While David works for the Pond Inlet Housing Corporation, seal hunting only in his spare time, Jimmy is a full-time hunter.

David and his son only sell about 20 skins per year and give the rest to Jimmy's grandmothers so they can make traditional clothing.

"The second cheque was a nice bonus last year," said Jimmy's mother April Kyak-Pitseolak. "The first one he used on ammunition and gas ... the second one he used to buy groceries."

Over in Repulse Bay, hunter David Nuluk also welcomed word of the eight per cent jump, especially considering in 2003 the average was $44.65.

"A price like that is very good," he said.

Nuluk catches about 70 or more seals each year, although he only sells about half the pelts.

"My wife Susan uses the rest to make mittens, parkas and other things that we can sell for more money," he said. Susan Nuluk also teaches others in her community traditional tanning and sewing techniques.

The steady price increase means greater independence for Inuit, said Theresie Tungilik, the Rankin Inlet-based advisor for arts and the traditional economy with Nunavut's Department of Economic Development and Transportation.

She remembers her father hunting seal before the crash in prices.

"The money meant he was able to afford a boat, an outboard motor and many other things," she said. "He was very independent."

At the auction house in North Bay, company spokesperson Jim Gibb said he thinks the strong prices on seal and other Northern furs will continue.

"World demand is up," he said, adding so is the supply from Nunavut. "We had 7,770 seal skins this year compared to about 6,000 last year."

Roughly 84 per cent of this year's catch was sold, with buyers from Germany and Denmark taking about 80 per cent of the stock.

"Most of those will eventually end up in Russia and China where it has been very cold already this year and the demand for seal is highest," he said.

The next auction is set for Feb. 23, with the last receiving date pegged for Jan. 15, he added.