Colville Lake (Jun 05/06) - A caribou shortage in Colville Lake is forcing residents to turn to pricey alternatives to fill their larder, according to band manager Joseph Kochon.

After a successful hunt last fall at the community's traditional hunting grounds near Horton lake, some 160 km east of here, the caribou grew scarce over the winter, said Kochon. The anticipated spring migration near the community was also a bust.

"Nothing, kaput, not since sometime around the first week of April," said Kochon.

"A big herd went through the north end of the lake. Since then we haven't seen nothing."

The lack of fresh meat is forcing residents to buy much of it from the community Co-op.

Kochon said the store-bought meat is depriving residents of their regular diet.

"Four pieces of pork chops will be about $13 or $14 bucks," said Kochon.

"They're making them a lot thinner, too. They used to be nice and fluffy, but now they're making them kind of thin."

"Pretty soon (community members) are going to start pressuring us to go look for some caribou. They can't live off the Co-op. It's not giving them their fill."

Alasdair Veitch, supervisor of wildlife management for the Sahtu, said the lack of caribou is no surprise to him.

It only indicates that survey numbers collected by the territorial government showing a decline in several caribou herds across the territory are true.

Veitch said several Sahtu communities, including Colville Lake, Deline and Fort Good Hope are reporting poor hunts this year.

The 2005 survey for the herd most commonly hunted by Colville hunters - the Bluenose West - shows their numbers are down to 21,000 from 75,000 in 2000, said Veitch.

"That's pretty much what we were telling the last fall," said Veitch.

"The numbers are down, and with the Bluenose West herd they haven't been around Colville that much over the last couple of years, but I guess this year they were even scarcer."

Veitch said the herd's decline may be attributed to a number of factors, including predation, disease, climate change, disturbances from natural gas exploration, and harvesting pressures by humans.

The territorial government plans to conduct another caribou census this summer.

It is also encouraging aboriginal communities to focus more on harvesting bulls over cows to help bolster herd numbers, said Veitch.