RANKIN INLET - The Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board says the Beverly caribou herd is weakening and wants all stakeholders to assist with an action plan, according to board member Ross Thompson.

"We're trying to pull together funding with our co-ordination role to get all the stakeholders together like they've done in the western Arctic to address the situation, with as many players at the table as we can to look at options to help rebuild the herd," said Thompson. "At our board meeting last May in Prince Albert, the board agreed that we have to do whatever we can to get a better handle on the harvest of the Beverly herd."

A press release from the board said this year's survey found less than half the number of breeding females than last year. Ninety-three females were counted in last year's survey.

The herd contained about 276,000 animals in 1994 and almost 6,000 of those were female.

Thompson said one of the keys to bringing back the herd is protecting the calving grounds located southwest of Baker Lake.

"Albeit it seems like they're not there right now, in the past they have returned and that's the premise we're going by, that we have to crank up protection on that critical habitat," he said.

The board's press release said information gathered from satellite collaring suggests females that previously calved in the Beverly grounds had moved to the Ahiak grounds, which could be one of the reasons for the decline in numbers in that area.

"When we helped with the satellite collaring of animals it was found that a lot of the animals we thought were Beverly animals are ending up on the Ahiak range," Thompson said.

Thomas Elytook, chair of Baker Lake's HTO and a member of the caribou management board said a lack of caribou in the area might not necessarily be a sign of a decline in the herd itself.

"It was brought up and another aboriginal from the Northwest Territories said the herd is just moving," he said. "I think the Northwest Territories elder is correct when he says they're not declining. They've just moved."

The caribou may have exhausted the food supply in the area and may have moved elsewhere until vegetation has time to replenish, Elytook said.

"They're letting it rest. As Inuit would call it, they're letting the land re-grow," he said.

Mineral exploration, climate change and more natural factors such as natural population cycles and disease are also listed as possible reasons for the decline.

The board is planning to develop an action plan this summer and fall and present the plan to stakeholders in November.