Jillian Dickens
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 17/05) - Greenland's decision to implement a polar bear quota system could mean a decrease in Nunavut's quota.

Nunavut and Greenland share the Baffin Bay, Kane Basin and Davis Straight polar bear populations. Before now, Greenland had no quota system in place, said wildlife management director Drikus Gissing.

The management plan, effective Oct. 15, highlights a quota system, plus provisions for a hunting season and protection of polar bear family groups. Greenland will introduce the quotas in January.

This information will help the Nunavut government and communities decide whether recently increased polar bear quotas should stay the way they are, or be reduced.

"Maybe we need to change quotas, but we don't know," said Gissing. "I'm not saying we will, but now we have more information to consult with communities."

Last December, Nunavut increased its quotas to 518 tags from 403 for the territory. Complete scientific data was unavailable to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board at the time, but traditional knowledge was used in approving the 115-tag increase.

A month later, new harvest reports from Greenland revealed that in the last two years an average of 195 bears per year were harvested by Greenland from the Baffin Bay region, rather than the original data that stated that an average of 129 bears per year were harvested.

This forced all involved to rethink the increased quotas, a decision not favoured by some Nunavut hunters.

James Qilliq, the chair of the Clyde River Hunter's and Trappers Association, says he's happy with the way quotas are now.

"There are too many polar bears around Clyde River lately, so we need to cut down the population," he said.

In May, Greenland and Nunavut agreed to work together to manage shared polar bear populations in the three regions. The two are still drafting an official agreement to do this.