NUNAVUT

Beverly caribou will be counted by the territorial government for the first time in 17 years this June, and one hunters and trappers organization told Nunavut News/North the herd is changing.

The survey will include counting the animals as well as determining their condition and distribution, said Mitch Campbell, Kivalliq regional wildlife biologist with the Nunavut Department of Environment.

The survey area includes the traditional Beverly herd calving ground, west of Baker Lake; the Queen Maud Gulf area, where the caribou are now calving; and east almost up to Repulse Bay, where there is local knowledge of caribou calving in the area.

"We're not sure what's happening with this particular population now," said Campbell. "We believed they moved to the North. Collar data suggests they moved to the North and are now calving in the Queen Maud Gulf Area."

About 29 people, including about half from hunters and trappers organizations, will use four airplanes to survey the areas between June 3 and 20, said Campbell. He added two helicopters will provide support to examine congregations of animals to determine their health and whether they are breeding or non-breeding animals.

Gjoa Haven hunter Willie Aglukkaq, who lives near the northern boundary of the survey area, said the survey will give them knowledge about the abundance of caribou.

"It's a good idea to know where the caribou are for the harvest that the HTO does and also the hunters themselves," he said.

But Aglukkaq said he has noticed changes in the herd since he was a child.

"The herd that used to be on the mainland south of Gjoa Haven, there used to be caribou there all winter long but now there is no caribou around that area during the winter months. They only come in the spring," he said. "I've noticed there is more caribou on the island itself now whereas in the past 20 years, there was no caribou."

On the opposite end of the survey area is Baker Lake, where the hunters and trappers organization has appointed an observer to participate in the survey, said HTO board manager Joan Scottie. She said the survey is important as the community hunts out of the Beverly herd and this winter the community had difficulty getting caribou and the hunters would like to know the cause of the declining population in the area.

"It would be very helpful and interesting to find out where the caribou are situated this year because the hunters are having a very hard time for the first time in a long time," she said. "They (hunters) have a hard time believing that Beverly herd is declining in numbers ... because they say they're not hunted until they are migrating in this area ...

"They're hoping they essentially have shifted over to another range."

Hunters in Saskatchewan aren't seeing caribou while hunters in Baker Lake are seeing fewer caribou in the Beverly range, said Campbell. He added they want to assess what may have happened to the Beverly herd, which has all but abandoned its traditional calving area.

"There is a huge concern ... something very troubling is going on with that population but we don't know. We don't have all the facts," he said.

Preliminary results should be available this fall and a final report within a year, said Campbell.

"We're trying to inform any decision making that's going to be done in the future that concerns anything to do with caribou," he said.

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