Hunters, DFO minister meet to talk beluga hunt

The Minister of Fisheries will meet Friday with Inuit in northern Quebec, to try to defuse anger over cuts to the beluga whale harvest.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has reduced Nunavik's beluga quota from 370 animals last year to 100 this year. It says stocks are dwindling and can't support a larger hunt.

Last spring DFO scientists said some beluga stocks in Nunavik are decreasing quickly, and could disappear in five years.

But the cuts haven't gone over well with local hunters, so the president of the Makivik Corporation invited Thibault to Kuujjuaq to try to defuse the growing tension.

Pita Attami, the president of the Makivik Corporation, says DFO's system of counting whales is flawed.

"Inuit are telling us, they're seeing a whole bunch of whales, cause they're here all of the time," he says. "DFO is here for a short period, and when they don't see it they think there's no whales."

The Department of Fisheries has always maintained that in order for its management plan to work, it needs the support of the hunters in the region.

At Friday's meeting, the fisheries minister will try to find ways to do just that.