SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The future of sport hunting in the NWT is in question following a tense three-hour meeting held in Yellowknife last week.

Due to the GNWT's claim the Bathurst caribou herd is in jeopardy the government would not guarantee outfitters will be granted caribou tags next year.

Members of the Barren Ground Caribou Outfitters Association met with GNWT officials to discuss possible changes to the Bathurst herd hunt.

Gary Bohnet, deputy minister for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said he wouldn't lie - it's possible, depending on the new five-year caribou management plan the government plans to unveil next year, outfitters may lose out.

"We've got some very tough decisions to make," Bohnet said.

Barry Taylor, a Yellowknife outfitter, said if the government introduces a new plan where outfitter tags are cut back or eliminated he could be in financial trouble. Taylor said he starts preparing for next year some 12 to 18 months prior to the start of the season.

If he and his hunting guide counterparts don't find out until early 2010 whether or not they have tags that is unacceptable, he said.

"I want to market caribou," he said. "If we're a dead industry tell me now so we can get out."

Bruno Croft, manager of research and monitoring for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the number of breeding female caribou in transit to calving grounds is much lower than in the past.

"It's very alarming," Croft said, adding it's the second year in a row they are seeing this pattern.

In 2006, when the last photo census was done, researchers found 46,000 breeding female caribou in transit. In 2007, the number declined to 28,000 and in 2008 the number declined drastically to 8,000.

Bohnet said the Tlicho Government and the Dene have said they will half commercial hunting this year to do their part in limiting the decline.

John Max Kudlak, board member of the Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee, said they quit commercial hunting of caribou about three years ago and hunt only for sustenance.

"It will definitely affect these outfitters that rely on caribou for their business," he said, adding if the species continues to decline they might have to rely on hunting muskox or moose.

"Some of our elders are not used to the change in the diet, but these other species will be harvested if further restrictions are made to the hunters or the people."

Kudlak, unlike the outfitters, believes government stats are accurate.

"They should be accurate. I flew with ENR last week and they were locating the caribou and taking the pictures. But the Inuvialuit have the (Wildlife Management Advisory Committee NWT) to incorporate our traditional knowledge within these to compare with the scientific data."

Outfitter Boyd Warner said while the government continues to try and restrict outfitters, they fail to do anything about the largest harvester of caribou - wolves. He said a wolf can take anywhere from 15 to 30 caribou per year.

"I'm not advocating a wolf gunship helicopter program, but B.C. does it, Alaska does it, the Yukon does it. It does [make] a big difference," Warner said, adding killing off wolves could help stabilize or even increase caribou numbers.

"Why are we not talking about wolves?"

For Bohnet it's a simple solution to the current decline.

"You either protect the herd or you lose it," he said, also addressing allegations the possible restriction on outfitters is politically motivated: "Those types of statements aren't going to help us move forward on this issue."

Gary Jaeb, another local outfitter and one of the NWT's largest, said the inability to control resident and aboriginal harvesting makes outfitters an easy target for control. He added the $4-million industry brings jobs and money into the territory.

In his opening remarks, Bohnet said government representatives weren't there to debate the science, something outfitters John Andre and Boyd Warner both had issues with, due to the lack of tracking collars used and the absence of counts on the Ahiak herd.

Warner believes the Ahiak and Bathurst to be the same herd and suggested renaming them Bathurst East and West.

Outfitter Margaret Peterson said the debate on science should be left to the classroom.

"We really need to start moving towards solutions," she said. "We've got to protect them somehow. We have to ask ourselves what are we willing to do to save the Bathurst herd."

Bohnet said the final caribou numbers will be released by fall.