Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Jun 28/00) - The success of community-based management in the narwhal hunt of Hudson Bay stock depends on the accuracy of the information being gathered.

Ian Ellsworth, manager of Nunavut Wildlife Services for the Kivalliq Region, says the intent of the system is to ascertain the ratio of actual retrievals compared to whales struck and lost.

"That's the basis of the system to gather that kind of information and if people aren't reporting that, your system is not working," says Ellsworth.

"Bad policies or decisions can sometimes result if people are not reporting accurately."

Four communities supplied reports from last year's hunt, with Repulse Bay landing 157 narwhals, Arctic Bay 101, Pond Inlet 130 and Whale Cove 2.

Repulse Bay, however, reported a much higher struck-and-lost count.

A fact not lost on the chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB), Ben Kovic.

Repulse reported 67 narwhal wounded and escaped and 30 killed and sunk.

Pond Inlet reported 14 wounded and escaped and another 16 killed and sunk. Arctic Bay still has not complied with requests for their numbers.

Kovic says the data furnished from Pond Inlet is questionable.

"Repulse Bay hunters were very accurate in recording their numbers," says Kovic.

"When you look at Pond Inlet landing 130 narwhals in one community, you expect some to be struck and lost, but there was hardly any lost there.

"Is Pond Inlet the perfect community to hunt narwhal? I don't know."

"Do those communities have precision hunters? I don't know."

Kovic says Repulse supplied the type of data necessary for an accurate depiction of the strength of narwhal numbers.

"The Repulse hunters reported their numbers and there was no hidden information in that community.

"So, I would like to congratulate Repulse Bay for a job well done, even though the world saw it a bit differently."