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IQALUIT - Beneficiaries are calling for the removal of harvest limits on bowhead whales in the Nunavut Settlement Area.

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board held a public hearing Feb. 10 to consider Nunavut Tunngavik's proposal to modify or eliminate the total allowable harvest for bowhead whales, entertaining submissions from the beneficiaries' organization as well as the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Peter Awa, right, a wildlife board member from Iglulik, said Inuit have seen bowhead whale populations rise dramatically in the last 10 years. - Carolyn Sloan/NNSL photo

According to an aerial study done in 2004, fisheries officials estimated the Eastern Arctic bowhead whale population at between 4,800 and 43,000. They told the board that based on a conservative estimate within this range, 18 whales a year could be removed by human means, such as by harvesting, net entanglement and ship strikes, without harming the population.

This is an "ultra-conservative" number, said the beneficiaries' group, but still large enough not to warrant a limit on Nunavut's quota.

Inuit in Nunavut are currently allowed to hunt two whales a year, while Greenland and Nunavik are each permitted to harvest one whale annually from the same population. Nunavut Tunngavik said plans were being made to organize and equip three hunts a year, which keeps the total Inuit harvest of whales within the three jurisdictions well below the 18-whale limit.

"The onus is on the government - why are you limiting it? - and that's what we're asking today," NTI presenter Glenn Williams told Nunavut News/North between sessions.

He said according to the land claims agreement, beneficiaries have the right to hunt what they need. A limitation or quota can only be imposed if it is warranted under certain criteria, such as for the purposes of conservation, maintaining a healthy population to sustain harvesting, restoring depleted populations or for protecting public health and safety.

Williams said he feared the board would turn down Nunavut Tunngavik's proposal on account of how it would be perceived worldwide.

"There is concern about international perception and the potential for criticism internationally for removing the TAH (total allowable harvest)," he said. "Unfortunately, that is not justification for the NWMB or the minister to set a TAH on harvesting bowheads."

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans told the wildlife board it would support increasing the quota to three whales per year for Nunavut. It would not support a decision to remove the harvest limit while it was still uncertain whether the population has been restored to pre-commercial whaling levels, estimated at upwards of 11,000 whales.

"You make choices about how conservative you want to be," said Pierre Richard with the department's arctic research division. "The advice from DFO is to allow the population to recover as much as possible."

But beneficiaries at the table said the population had recovered, and perhaps exceeded pre-commercial whaling levels, according to an Inuit traditional knowledge study and what they have witnessed firsthand.

"A long time ago, when we were children, around 1955, 1956, we barely saw any bowhead around in our area," said Peter Awa, a board member from Iglulik, through an interpreter. "1999 to today, we see a lot of bowheads and we see them with our eyes, and as Inuit, we believe what we see with our own eyes."

"The qallunaat only believe in paper and facts that are written," he added. "I can assure you there is an increase in the bowhead population."

Williams also said the aerial survey done in 2004 did not take into account many of the communities where the whales have been hunted, including Repulse Bay, Coral Harbour, Iglulik and Hall Beach.

Including sightings in these areas would undoubtedly raise population estimates, he said.

Richard agreed, but said a more complete survey was not financially feasible at the time.

"Even though it's a partial coverage, the survey covers areas with the highest densities of bowhead," he said.

Based on the arguments and evidence at the hearing, the wildlife board will make a recommendation to Canada's fisheries minister Gail Shea, who will then have 60 days to make a final decision.