Tourism is being touted as the saviour of guides and hunters in the M'Clintock Channel. After all, the region has splendid scenery, wildlife and plenty of history. But how will the hunters support their families until tourists get to know what the Kitikmeot has to offer?
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Taloyoak (Feb 05/01) - Tommy Aiyout earned more than $10,000 guiding for American sport hunters last year.
He won't see that income this season. That's going to hurt his family.
"It means no snowmobile, no ATV. It means no transportation to go out hunting," said Aiyout.
The resident of Taloyoak is one of the people - from his town, Cambridge Bay and Gjoa Haven -- who have depended on guiding sport hunters after polar bears in the M'Clintock Channel for income and the bear meat to feed their families.
A declining bear population has resulted in a reduction of the harvest quota to 12 this year - down from 32 - and a complete ban on bear hunting in 2002.
Government officials say tourism will replace the traditional economy.
"We have to find a way to make cruise ships stop, get people off those cruise ships and onto the land. These are the kinds of things we're talking about," said Steve Hannah, the regional director of wildlife in the Kitikmeot.
Aiyout has worked in the past as a tourism outfitter. It was hard work but he'd do it again.
"If it's possible, I would do it."
Even the Kitikmeot Hunters and Trappers Association wants to see tourism develop, but they know it's going to take time.
"We're hoping tourism will happen. There's a good possibility for someone to run an outfit," said Phillip Kadlun, KHTA president.
"But it's going to take a while to think about how we're going to do it.
"It's not going to be this year or next year."
Excitement on the tundra
Madeleine Redfern, the executive director of Nunavut Tourism, said developing Nunavut as a tourism market wasn't the problem. The excitement to be had on the tundra -- whether it's gained through a dogsled trip, a photography shoot or a caribou sport hunt -- was already well known to the adventure tourism crowd.
The difficulty, Redfern said, stemmed from ensuring time was spent properly planning for an outfitting business.
"It's a very specialized, niche market with a high potential for revenue," said Redfern.
"Because of how long it takes to develop a business plan and get an awareness (of the business itself) in the marketplace, it would be very difficult to say you'd be able to replace a $10,000 to $20,000 income immediately. The work you do now is for a year in advance," she said.
The government understands it will take time to develop tourism as a Kitikmeot alternative and a study is under way to determine the impact of the bear moratorium and what to do about it.
"We want to make sure we know exactly what we're getting into, who's affected, what the dollar values are," said Hannah.
That study is expected to wrap up in mid-February.
