ENR minister calls for Nunavut government
to halt caribou hunt after population drop
Michael Miltenberger wants number of tags issued for sport hunting in Nunavut cut after latest count finds herds decimated
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, October 5, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael Miltenberger is calling on the Nunavut government to limit the number of caribou tags it issues to outfitters and sport hunters.
He made his position known last week after new numbers showed the caribou in the NWT continues to fall dramatically. Caribou herds often cross back and forth between the NWT and Nunavut.
"It is a really problematic, galling situation ... that the Nunavut government still allows 70 tags to be issued for sports hunting. They are (issued to) outfitters who used to do business in the NWT and just moved their operation to Nuvavut," Miltenberger said. "As we struggle and have no hunting, Nunavut for some reason continues to give tags for commercial hunting. When herds are in trouble, that's the first tag allocations, for us, to be withdrawn," Miltenberger said.
He said elected officials from both territories continue to meet on the caribou issue and officials from the NWT are pushing them to take action. The NWT only allows caribou to be hunted for food and a limited number for aboriginal hunters to be used for ceremonial purposes. Miltenberger is citing predators, climate change and industry as just some of the reasons that herd numbers continue to fall.
The most recent count, released on Sept. 28 by the GNWT, stated population surveys completed this summer indicated caribou continue to decline in the Bluenose-East, Bluenose-West, Bathurst, Cape Bathurst and Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula barren-ground herds.
The Bathurst herd has had the most dramatic decrease in numbers, now down to between 16,000 and 22,000 animals. The herd had about 32,000 caribou in 2012, but had about 470,000 animals in 1986. Also of concern is the falling numbers of breeding cows in the Bathurst herd which have dropped by 50 per cent to about 8,000. The number of breeding cows is a crucial indicator of herd health, according to the news release.
Preliminary survey results indicate that the Bluenose-East herd has declined from about 68,000 animals in 2013 to between 35,000 and 40,000 this year. The number of breeding cows in the Bluenose-East herd is also down by about half from 34,000 in 2013 to about 17,000 this summer.
The Bluenose-West herd population has dropped from about 20,000 in 2012 to about 15,000 this year. The Cape Bathurst herd has declined from about 2,400 in 2012 to about 2,260 animals this year. The herd population was about 19,000 in 1992.
The Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula population is now estimated to be about 1,700 animals, down from 2,192 in 2012.
According to the territorial government, these declines are not unique to herds in the NWT as barren ground caribou herds in Nunavut and Alaska are also declining. Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) notes the declining trend in the Bathurst and Bluenose-East herds is consistent with generally declining trends in migratory tundra caribou herds in North America including those in northern Quebec, Labrador, Nunavut and Alaska.
The Porcupine herd in the NWT, Yukon and Alaska has bucked the trend and is actually showing an increasing population trend.
"Although the evidence is incomplete, we suspect these further declines, in large part, reflect poor environmental conditions, possibly on the summer range, are leading to reduced pregnancy rates and reduced calf survival rates," stated Jan Adamczewski, wildlife biologist with ENR.
A final report on the caribou population survey results will be released later this fall.
