Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Jul 27/98) - The Department of Fisheries and Oceans was a key player in last week's bowhead whale hunt in Cumberland Sound.

"The role of Fisheries and Oceans ostensibly is to monitor the hunt," said Gary Weber, the Nunavut Area Manager for the department.

He said this involved completing a thorough inspection of all the hunt equipment and going over the hunt plan with captain Jaco Evic and his assistant Simeonie Keenainak.

Some of the department's concerns included how the animal would be towed once it was caught, where it would be towed to and "what kinds of weapons they have to ensure the animal will be killed quickly and efficiently," said Weber.

The number of hunters and boats taking part in the hunt was also a major concern because of control difficulties caused during the last bowhead whale harvest in Repulse Bay in 1996.

Weber noted that this year's hunt plan was developed in accordance with recommendations made in a report completed after the last hunt.

"One of them was the hunt should be given to a single community. In Repulse Bay, the hunt was conducted by a number of people from across Nunavut ... people didn't have an opportunity to discuss things," said Weber.

He added that other focal recommendations advised the use of an exploding projectile to kill the whale quickly and that all usable products from the mammal be utilized.

The department also played a role with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in developing the terms and conditions set out in the hunt licence.

Under the Nunavut land claim agreement that was signed in 1993, a provision was established to issue the Inuit with a licence to hunt bowhead whales. The rate of removal has been calculated by scientists who explained that based upon their data, the number of bowhead whales in the North Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin stock and the Davis Strait-Baffin Bay stock is increasing.