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Nunavut studies plans for caribou, muskox industry

Meat from harvest could be marketed around the world

NUNATSIAQ NEWS

Fifty-five people in Coral Harbour, who participate in Canada's only commercial caribou hunt, harvested 3,800 animals whose meat was sold around the world last year.

Now the Government of Nunavut is getting ready to see if other caribou herds can be hunted commercially.

Last Thursday, the GN announced plans to study whether there is a market for caribou and muskox harvested in Nunavut, and whether it makes economic sense to conduct more harvests.

The study will include an examination of past attempts at harvesting to see what went wrong and what the GN can do to create more viable hunts, says Charles Hunter, a senior policy analyst with the department of Economic Development and Transportation.

In Coral Harbour, the hunt started as a form of population control. In the 1960s, overhunting nearly wiped out the caribou on Southampton Island, where Coral Harbour is located. Twenty-four caribou were re-introduced to the island in the 1980s, where they flourished.

By the last 1990s, the population was estimated at between 30,000 and 60,000, and a commercial hunt was proposed to stabilize their growing numbers.

The GN also announced plans on Thursday to do an aerial survey to find the exact number of caribou and determine how many should be harvested. Three thousand animals were harvested last year, butchered in an abattoir, and sent to Kivalliq Arctic Foods in Rankin Inlet for further processing.

The hunt meets the standard of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, allowing the caribou meat products to be sold around the world.

In Cambridge Bay, a group called the "MX 11" is currently working on a business plan for a commercial muskox hunt. Plans were thrown off course when new food inspection standards were introduced last year.

The Cambridge Bay committee also needs to make sure a commercial hunt would not damage the muskox population on Victoria Island, which is also harvested by residents of Holman in the Northwest Territories.

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