IQALUIT - The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board conducted a marathon hearing in Iqaluit last week to determine whether to recommend changing the total allowable harvest on polar bears to 64 from 105 for three communities.

Hunters from Clyde River, Pond Inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq were openly skeptical of the Government of Nunavut's position that the polar bear population in their area has declined to 1,500 from 2,000 in 1997.

"These days, polar bear numbers have really increased," said Jaykoloasie Killiktee of the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization. "I have spent time at my birthplace (Ikpiarjuk/Guy's Bright near Pond Inlet) more than once and it is a totally different situation now than before. Polar bears are there now year-round and one has to watch out for them now, winter, spring, summer and fall, and bears are not afraid of people anymore."

The Department of Environment asked the board to consider changing the harvest quota because harvest numbers in Greenland turned out to be higher than had been expected. The polar bear population of Baffin Bay is harvested from Baffin Island and Greenland, and no joint management plan exists between the two jurisdictions.

The last time scientists did research in the area was a mark-and-recapture study started in 1997. Scientists estimate the total population size by the proportion of recaptured bears with tags.

However, hunters object to mark-and-recapture studies because they require tranquilizing the animals and worry about health impacts from eating the flesh of a bear recently drugged.

Based off the 1997 study, scientists have been calculating an estimate for the current population based off how well the bears are surviving and how many are harvested.

Nunavut's lead polar bear biologist Lily Peacock said the population was "robust," with a healthy reproduction rate. But the new numbers out of Greenland mean that more bears are harvested than the department thought when the quota was increased to 105 in 2004 from 64.

Greenland has reduced its Baffin Bay polar bear harvest to 68 in response to the same concerns.

When asked if local HTOs would support a mark-and-recapture study, one HTO member instead suggested counting the bears by Ski-Doo and aircraft.

Peacock later said that method isn't feasible because of the vast distances involved.