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Nunavut polar bear quota draws fire

American environmental group asks U.S. to ban Canadian wildlife imports; Government of Nunavut confident it can prove hunt sustainability

Jeanne Gagnon
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 30, 2012

NUNAVUT
An American conservation group is calling for trade sanctions against Canada, saying the increased polar bear harvest quota for the Western Hudson Bay population violates an international treaty and is unsustainable.

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American conservation group The Center for Biological Diversity has called on the U.S. government to impose trade sanctions on wildlife product imports from Canada in protest of the Government of Nunavut increasing the polar bear hunting quota in the Western Hudson Bay bear population. - NNSL file photo

The Government of Nunavut increased the quota for the 2011-12 harvest season to 21 polar bears from eight for the Western Hudson Bay population last October.

This population lives in the area around Arviat, Baker Lake, Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet and ChesterfieldInlet.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed the request for trade sanctions with the U.S. Department of the Interior as it stated Canada violated the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, according a Jan. 23 press release.

The group is asking for a ban on the importation of Canadian wildlife products.

"The polar bear is already on an extinction trajectory because of global warming," stated Brendan Cummings with the Center for Biological Diversity in the release. "If we want to keep polar bears in the world, we have to dramatically cut greenhouse emissions and also reduce all the other threats to its survival, including overhunting."

The group further states the Western Hudson Bay polar bear population has "declined dramatically" in recent years.

The quota increase was the first increase in three years. The previous quota of eight was set in 2008. The Department of Environment recommended to increase the quota following consultations with the affected communities and the Kivalliq Regional Wildlife Organization.

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board considered scientific and Inuit traditional knowledge, as well as submissions before recommending a harvest quota last fall to the minister, who made the final decision.

Board chair Mikidjuk Akavak said the almost 40-year-old international treaty quoted only refers to scientific data, and Inuit traditional knowledge must be taken into account.

"Polar bears, being the poster child of the conservation world, when there's decisions made in reducing the number of polar bears, there is often concern from different parts of the world and different parts of Nunavut," said Akavak.

"One has to take into account, if there is too many bears within a certain zone, then other species Inuit hunt will be also affected, not just from climate change but from over-abundance of polar bears is a threat to themselves."

David Akeeagok, the deputy minister of the environment, said the GN is not worried about the group's request because it is set to release the results of the 2010 and 2011 aerial population survey by March.

The data will be used to recommend a long-term harvest quota.

"The reason we are not too worried about it is we will be releasing our results of the Western Hudson Bay population. We're quite confident it's going to be supporting our findings," he said. "We're pretty confident this population is healthy and that it will support our minister's increase on the harvest for that subpopulation."

He remarked the group is targeting one population out of the 13 that saw increased quota. U.S. Department of the Interior agrees to consider the group's request, it will seek input, which the territorial government will provide.

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