Kivalliq polar bear quota won't increase: Nunavut government

Nunavut government officials say they can't change the number of polar bears that can be hunted in the Kivalliq region this year just because the region's wildlife board doesn't like it.

Over the past month, the Kivalliq Wildlife Board has criticized the 2008-2009 quota of only eight polar bear hunting tags demanding that it be changed to last year's quota of 38. The board has threatened to allow 38 polar bears to be hunted anyway if it doesn't get its old quota back.

But that's not likely to happen, since this year's quota — also known as the total allowable harvest — was recommended two years ago by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and approved by the territorial government, said Steve Pinksen, director of policy, planning and legislation with Nunavut's Environment Department

"According to the regulations, the total allowable harvest is eight. And we're not able to change that," Pinksen told CBC News on Wednesday.

"Because somebody doesn't like the decision the board made, or doesn't like the decision the minister accepted, we don't have the jurisdiction as a government to arbitrarily change it. Furthermore, the [Kivalliq Wildlife Board] doesn't, either."

Pinksen said government officials are now waiting for the Kivalliq board to say how it will use this year's eight polar bear tags.

Members of the Kivalliq board have said the government and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board used bad data, gleaned from an incomplete polar bear study, to determine this year's quota.

But Pinksen said the Kivalliq region polar bear quota was actually based on 30 years worth of polar bear population studies that have been conducted by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

"When the [Nunavut] Wildlife Management Board held its hearings, they reviewed the information submitted by the KWB and by the people at the hearing," he said.

"But the decision was — at least science-wise — based on data from the 1970s through to 2004-2005."

Pinksen said the four-day polar bear survey, which the Kivalliq board cited as the incomplete study, was done to look at a previously understudied area of the Kivalliq.