Iqaluit (Feb 17/03) - The Nunavut sealing industry appears to be out of the wilderness.

For the second year in a row, European demand for ring sealskins remains strong and prices are edging higher, the Government of Nunavut (GN) reports.

Prices at the annual sealskin auction in North Bay, Ont., in December averaged $63 per pelt, double the price in 1999.

Sealskins averaged less than $20 at the auction in the mid-1990s.

The $500,000 auction gross is a 10-year high and nearly double the 2001 return.

GN wildlife officers purchased about 10,000 ring sealskins from harvesters last year -- 3,000 more than in 2001.

All of the pelts purchased by the GN go to Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. for the North Bay sale.

Of the 9,539 pelts offered for sale in December, 82 per cent were sold for an average of $63.39, said the company. The highest price paid was $95.80.

Two buyers from Denmark purchased more than 90 per cent of the pelts sold at auction.

Private sales were continuing for the remainder, said the company.

GN Sustainable Development Minister Olayuk Akesuk hailed the sale results as good news for harvesters and the communities.

"We are delighted to see Nunavut sealskins continue to net high prices and we hope to see them go higher in the future," said Akesuk, who is also a hunter.

"The market resurgence we are seeing allows harvesters to continue earning an income through sustainable, traditional livelihoods."

Akesuk credited GN marketing efforts in Europe and a new sealskin grading system for the turnaround.

"The success is a direct result of our years of effort in revitalizing sealing in Nunavut."

The new grading system was introduced last May. Previously, the government paid hunters a flat rate of $30 per skin.

Prices for skins purchased through to December ranged from $25 to $60. Ring seal harvesters are located in virtually every community in the territory.

"The grading system is working out very well. We only buy the best quality and that is what buyers are seeing at the auction."

The GN consistently lost money buying pelts at a flat rate of $30 during down-markets in the late 1980s and early '90s, he said.

Despite the industry turnaround the GN remains concerned it will spark renewed anti-sealing activity in the North.

"We are concerned about the anti-sealing activity that is going on."

The GN will continue to actively spread the word in Europe that sealing in Nunavut is a community-based, aboriginal hunt "very different from that in other countries," he said.