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A bowhead whale hunted in Kugaaruk on September 4, 2008. - photo courtesy of Gabriel Nirlungayuk, wildlife director for NTI in Rankin Inlet./div>

IQALUIT - Eastern Arctic bowhead whales were downgraded from a threatened species to a species of special concern last week, which means there will be three bowhead whale hunts in Nunavut this summer and next.

Dr. Jeff Hutchings, chair of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada said that new information led to a re-evaluation of the bowhead whale population.

The committee "assessed bowhead in the Eastern Arctic in 2005 as a threatened species," said Hutchings.

The report from 2005 stated there could be as few as 300 whales.

"But there was recent information last year to suggest that maybe the numbers of bowhead were underestimated and we should have another look at it," he added. "So bowhead was one of 27 species that we assessed at a meeting last week and we downlisted it from threatened to special concern."

He said researchers and Inuit finally agree there are sufficient bowhead whales to support an increased hunt in the eastern Arctic, even though the exact number of whales is not known.

"In this case, the Inuit knowledge and the Western science information on the abundance of bowheads seems to be consistent," he said.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. wildlife director Gabriel Nirlungayuk said Inuit have always maintained the bowhead whale population was larger than scientists thought.

"They negotiated for an Inuit bowhead knowledge study which was conducted and in that report they concluded there's a lot more than 300 bowhead whales," Nirlungayuk said.

He said NTI had requested the board eliminate the quota system altogether during a public hearing last February.

"We're not saying we want to go full out and hunt many bowheads, that's not what we're saying," Nirlungayuk said. "What we're saying is there's no need for limitations on numbers against Inuit sustainable harvesting."

He said the proposal was rejected, and NTI then requested that the hunt be increased to three hunts per year, which has now been granted by the Fisheries and Oceans minister Gail Shea.

Eric Kan, Fisheries and Oceans' area director of the Eastern Arctic region, said there will be three hunts per year for the next two years.

"Last Monday, the minister has signed off and she agrees with the recommendation put forth by the board," Kan said. "Basically the decision was to have a total allowable harvest for three bowhead whales and that will be reviewed again after the 2011 harvesting season."

The actual number of bowhead whales in the eastern Arctic is still disputed, but ranges from 6,000 to 14,000 whales, according to the committee on the status of endangered wildlife.