Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Panniqtuuq (Apr 08/02) - A proposed narwhal-tagging project could give Cumberland Sound hunters the information they need to better manage the whales.

It might even lead to a higher narwhal quota for Panniqtuuq.

Moe Keenainak, the manager of the hamlet's hunters and trappers association, said his members and officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans hope to place satellite transmitters on the mammals this spring.

The project was supposed to start last spring, but poor ice conditions made it impossible. This year's thick ice means work can begin in early May if funding is secured.

Michelle Wheatley, director of wildlife management at the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, said she expected her organization to review the $26,000 proposal and make a decision by the end of last week.

If approved, the board will fund the study through the Nunavut Wildlife Research Trust, which contributes some $700,000 annually to research projects.

DFO is also expected to help pay for the project.

"It's not a huge funding requirement this year because they already have the transmitters," said Wheatley.

The transmitters will allow wildlife officials to track individual narwhals and learn more about their behaviour.

"We want to find out where the whales go and see if anybody else hunts those whales," said Keenainak. "Nobody knows where the narwhals go and people think we're hunting from the same stock of whales."

Participants will catch the whales with a net and, working from a Zodiac boat, affix transmitters to the dorsal ridge on females and the tusk on males.

The result should be better understanding of narwhal ecology and data that could help determine if it's safe to increase the narwhal quota. The community of 1,300 people currently has an annual quota of 40 narwhals.

"With a community of this size, 40 whales in one year is not enough for everyone," said Keenainak. A similar beluga tagging project in the late 1990s gave wildlife officials a great deal of insight into the species. Keenainak said researchers came to understand which communities hunted the Cumberland Sound stock and the information helped set accurate quotas.