Not only that, but much of it lay rotting on the beach because residents were confused over old traditions of sharing the kill.

The whale, killed by selected hunters from across Nunavut, sunk to the bay's bottom August 15.

Hunters, with the help of Department of Fisheries and Oceans scanned the sea floor using sonar, trying to find the carcass.

Finally, two days later the whale was recovered and dragged to shore where it was butchered last Thursday.

"A lot of us are not touching it," said Joani Kringayark, plant manager for the Power Corporation and long-time local hunter. "It has a foul smell and it tastes of gut rot."

Organizers from Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and hunters from each Nunavut community were on hand throughout the hunt to share in the excitement.

In a media release last week, NWMB congratulated bowhead hunters on their catch.

"This hunt proves that the Inuit of Nunavut still have the will and the skills necessary to hunt the bowhead," said NWMB chairman Ben Kovic.

"I was very happy to see young people from all over Nunavut participating in the hunt.

"It is these people who will carry the tradition of bowhead hunting in the future. I know that everyone involved learned a lot from this hunt, and that there will be other successful hunts in the future"

Kringayark, however doesn't dare call it a successful hunt, saying traditional hunters were left out of the process and forced to witness a poorly coordinated effort from the shore.

"It was a hunt run by disorganized politicians and inexperienced hunters," Kringayark said.

When the whale was pulled to shore, organizers and Nunavut elders got their long awaited 4x13x15 centimetre piece of muktuk to share with their immediate family.

The rest of the bowhead was left on the beach for locals to share but most Inuit didn't know if they should dig in.

"The community was confused by it, they weren't told what to do," Kringayark said, adding that last Thursday 60 per cent of the meat and guts was still rotting away on the beach, sending a stench into the community, already attracting one polar bear.

The local hamlet has initiated a clean-up, one that will cost between $12,000 to $15,000, and one they say organizers are going to pay for.

"The community is very bitter and disappointed. If I were the ones who organized it I'd be so embarrassed, I'd quit my job."

Kringayark said it will take about two weeks for the 10 local people hired to clean up the mess.

They will cut up what is left and use the meat for dog food in the various Nunavut communities. The rest will be burned.

"We don't want to see another waste like we had this time. We don't even want to talk about another hunt."

This year's harvest has been a long-time coming for Inuit, who voluntarily stopped hunting bowheads more than 20 years ago after commercial whalers almost wiped out the population.

Federal approval of the licence came Feb. 2, months before a charge against three Igloolik hunters for illegally killing a bowhead whale in 1993 was stayed.

Until now, the only other NWT group who could legally hunt a bowhead was the Inuvialuit in the Beaufort-Delta. They also have a clause in their land claim to hunt one bowhead a year.

Inuvialuit hunters successfully hunted a bowhead July 24, 160 kilometres northwest of Inuvik.

Harvesting a bowhead has significant cultural and traditional meaning for both the Inuvialuit and Inuit.

Bowhead muktuk is also considered superior to that of the beluga and is a highly valued traditional food.