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IQALUIT
A two-day workshop discussing the status of Baffin Island caribou was "very positive," according to a senior wildlife official.

Drikus Gissing, Nunavut's director of wildlife management, said the meeting exceeded expectations and it is now up to Baffin Island Hunters and Trappers Organizations (HTOs) to come up with strategies to increase the caribou population.

"People thought it would be confrontational but in the end, it went very well," he said, referring to the workshop held in Iqaluit from July 23 to 24 that brought hunting, government and wildlife representatives together.

"The main issue is the population decline, which has been observed by hunters throughout the South Baffin area. Based on what they've told us and on the 2012 Department of Environment survey, there is a significant decline across the island and it needs to be addressed."

The 2012 survey in question - Estimating the Abundance of South Baffin Caribou - paints a grim picture of the caribou population on the island.

According to the large-scale aerial survey conducted last year between March and May, more than 95 per cent of caribou have disappeared in the past 20 years. The South Baffin population, which once ranged between 60,000 and 180,000 in the early 1990s, now ranges between 1,065 and 2,067.

"Something needs to be done," Gissing said.

The HTOs have returned to their communities and will now begin reporting, through consultations, on what was discussed at the workshop.

The general consensus was a management plan must be developed in collaboration with HTOs, Gissing said.

"It's what we'd prefer to see - HTOs taking action on their own," he said.

"Then they can come back and tell us how we can support them. That is the preferred way of addressing the conservation problem - the objective is to support them with tools, so they can be successful."

The reason behind the significant population decline remains a mystery, however. The study states that climate change, disease and anthropogenic activities (mineral development and unrestricted harvest) have likely contributed to the decline over the years.

Hunting, however, is not to blame, according to Gissing. It's a common myth that caribou populations have decreased due to over-hunting.

"It has nothing to do with it," he said.

"The decline is likely due to the environment - they eat themselves out of house and home," he said, adding that once they eat all of the vegetation they come across, the rest is covered with ice, causing many to die of starvation.

He mentioned a similar trend noticed in the 1940s and 1950s, when caribou populations were low but suddenly flourished in the 1980s. Increased development coupled with advanced harvesting methods on Baffin Island could also affect

caribou recovery, he said.

Workshop attendees are now expected to review the results of their discussions, write reports and come up with a draft caribou management plan in the fall.

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