Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 12/99) - Belugas trapped in ice means a great deal of media attention.

That's what Grise Fiord residents discovered in the aftermath of dozens of whales trapped in the ice 61 kilometres from the community.

Though Grise Fiord residents are impressed and titillated by the attention, one area wildlife officer with the Nunavut Government, Seeglook Akeeagok, said the situation is really not that bizarre.

"The big (year for trapped belugas) I remember was in 1967 where whales were about 30 kilometres from here," said Akeeagok.

"(Since) then I have found carcasses on ice, which indicated they were trapped, but they were dead."

Akeeagok said trapped whales may be happening more frequently, but what makes this year's situation more distinctive is attention from national and even international media.

News/North carried a full-page feature and CBC television carried footage of the trapped belugas with a polar bear jumping into the ice.

Some people in the community even got calls from media in New England states.

"It has not affected the community that much. It has been the outsiders who have been more curious than the locals," he said.

"The local community thought it was a natural happening...but unusual."

What prompted the natural occurrence was a colder than usual spring with temperatures around freezing longer than in most years.

"The ice down there was getting dangerous when I was last down there about a week or so ago," Akeeagok said on July 6.

"The ice was getting thin. The ice up to 40 kilometres is still OK."

Akeeagok said though there may be more polar bears in the area because of easy food, no one in the community has been hunting the bears because the hunting season ended on May 31 and will not resume until Oct. 1.

"There's no way of getting down to the site now to monitor what's happening because there's no funding for chartering an aircraft or anything like that and it's too dangerous for anybody to go down by snowmobile."