Repulse Bay (Feb 23/05) - Repulse Bay hunters will be out hunting for a bowhead whale this summer, after their proposal was chosen by Nunavut's wildlife policy advisory committee.

"It was big news when I received the fax from (Nunavut Wildlife Management Board)," said Chris Topher, manager of the Arviq hunters and trappers association. "It's kind of hard to describe, but I'd say it's exciting."

It was picked from six proposals.

The community's proposal says four boats will be used in the hunt. It is expected that 16 hunters, along with a Department of Fisheries and Oceans monitoring team, will take part, Topher said.

Arviq HTO has yet to decide who will take part in the hunt.

Although Nunavut Tunngavik made the official announcement the previous week, Topher says the community of about 700 people was informed during the first week of February.

NTI said each of the community proposals were strong.

"We were impressed by the strong sense of leadership and the message of community participation and co-operation included in the proposal from Repulse Bay," said second vice-president Raymond Ningeocheak, who chairs the committee which made the decision.

"They captured the true spirit of traditional Inuit harvests."

Bowheads are considered endangered under Canada's Species at Risk Act, but the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement stipulates that Inuit are entitled to harvest the animals.

Though new research being done by DFO suggests the population in the eastern Arctic may be 10-times as large as current numbers suggest, the final results are not yet available.

Topher said he remembers eating delicious bowhead muktuk after the last hunt in Repulse Bay in 1996.

"It's very good."

Pangnirtung held a hunt in 1998, followed by Coral Harbour in 2000, and Iglulik and Hall Beach in 2002.

The Kitikmeot hunters and trappers association, as well as the Kivalliq and Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Boards, also sit on the committee which made the decision.