CORAL HARBOUR
There are five more guides fully trained and ready to do their part to help develop outfitting in Coral Harbour.

Instructor Wes Werbowy conducts a cooking lesson for guide trainees on the land near Coral Harbour this past month. - photo courtesy of Matthew Netser

The guides were trained this past month by instructor Wes Werbowy, who has spent decades training guides and outfitters in Kivalliq communities.

Werbowy said he was pleased by the commitment and dedication shown by the guides during the program.

He said the five graduates never missed a day of their training after an unfortunate incident early in the program saw a sixth student sent home.

"Not only was no one absent, but no one was late after that either," said Werbowy.

"I had to turf one guy on day three, and the rest of them agreed with my decision.

"They were there to be professionals and I was proud of every one of them."

Werbowy said the course combined Level 1 and Level 2 big-game guide training.

He said the participants are all community members who can see one of the few bright economic lights on the horizon is to do something for themselves.

"They've got the other students I've had here, who are now functioning outfitters doing very well, as stellar role models, he said. "That's opened their eyes to the idea of doing something along those lines but, the reality is, you can only cut a pie into so many pieces before it's too small for anyone.

"The niche market could stand one, perhaps two, more, but that would cover it."

Werbowy said Coral outfitters are doing well right now and a phenomenal market exists for them in Russia.

He said quite a few of the parties coming into Coral have been European, not American.

"They've been coming in mostly for polar bear and/or walrus.

"The course I just delivered was more land focused, because they've got caribou nobody's really doing anything with because the caribou health here declined dramatically.

"It hit rock bottom about two years ago, but appears to be slowly on the upswing.

"Brucellosis is pretty rampant, but with the herd so decimated the recovery should be better because there's so much food per animal now."

Werbowy said there are young caribou showing good signs of being healthy on Southampton Island.

He said with no wolf predation, the herd should make a fairly rapid comeback.

"If things work out, it might give one of these aspiring outfitters the chance to capture that niche market.

"These guys accept they're most likely going to become competitors. This course was focused on training to become a guide, not an outfitter. So, initially they will be looking to be employed by one of the three local outfitters working here."

Werbowy will return to Coral this coming January to deliver an outfitter's course.

He said his five guiding graduates understand this is a competition in which only one or two of them will ever become an outfitter in Coral, and the next course will give them a shot at it.

"When I return I will be like, more or less, their consultant/instructor," he said.

"I've told them to get some employment as a guide to expand their knowledge, and to work on a potential plan for some sort of outfitting scenario.

"They'll give me what I'd describe as a sketchy business plan upon my return, and I'll sit down and go over it with each of them.

"In all honesty some of their plans will not fly, so it's best to end it there than to have them waste years of effort and lots of money to prove it won't work."

Werbowy said he will pick one or two plans with the best chance of success because much can still be done to further outfitting in Coral.

He said he will give them the pathway, but they'll need to find "an honest promoter" to bring clients to their operation.

"They're looking for a salesman to sell their product, but not everyone will have as polished a product as some salesman may wish.

"You have to sell it to the salesman so he sees he can make a dollar out of it, so therefore you can make a dollar out of it.

"That's the best way to go about it because the guys here aren't used-car salesman, and they don't know how to go about creating true promotion.

"It's better to pay a professional on a percentage basis and get it done properly."

Werbowy said the existing outfitters are able to support their families on the business coming into Coral.

He said it's imperative prospective clients know the ins-and-outs about what they can do with the animals they hunt.

"You look at the Russian clients, for example, and they can take their polar bear hide back with them if they get one.

"It's only the United States and a few other areas that have swallowed this poison pill of misinformation.

"There is no shortage of polar bears and they're not endangered. That's the greatest farce that's been pulled on the North in quite some time."