Kivalliq hunters must stick to West Hudson bear population
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Dec 13/00) - Ben Kovic says Kivalliq hunters will not be hunting polar bears from the Foxe Basin population any time soon.
Kovic, chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, says polar bear hunting zones are based largely on populations, and hunters from Arviat, Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove are currently issued tags for the West Hudson population.
During the NWMB meetings in Rankin Inlet earlier this month, many Kivalliq hunters said they wanted to hunt bears from the Foxe Basin population around Wager Bay.
"Some Kivalliq hunters want to have the polar bear population regarded as one," says Kovic. "These hunters have to realize we have boundaries for management purposes.
"With no boundaries, trying to manage the total polar bear population in Nunavut would be next to impossible.
"It's too large an area to manage as one stock."
Kovic says studies done in the past decade show the majority of polar bears stay close to their areas at all times.
He adds many hunters believe bears travel from Churchill all the way to the Keewatin.
"According to our scientific tag returns and radio telemetry work on migrating patterns, there is no evidence to support they travel that distance.
"One hunter said Wager Bay bears seem to hang around in one spot because they den there and so forth.
"So he was already saying they were stationary bears while, at the same time, he wanted to use a Rankin tag in Wager Bay, which is not good for the bear population."
Kivalliq hunters have the right to track a bear at least 30 miles beyond their boundary, according to the management agreement each community signed They're not totally restricted to their boundary line because of this agreement, says Kovic.
"Let's be honest. If you've been tracking a bear for 30 miles and still haven't seen it, there's a good chance you will never see that bear if you continue on.
"With the scientific information we have right now, I don't see any changes in the boundaries coming for the foreseeable future unless we were to receive new information we are not aware of."
