Kugaaruk chosen for bowhead whale hunt

The Nunavut hamlet of Kugaaruk has been chosen as the next community to hunt a bowhead whale, with the hunt to be held sometime next summer.

The mostly Inuit community, formerly known as Pelly Bay, beat out eight others to host the 2008 whale hunt.

Officials with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the territory's land claims organization, told CBC News that the hunt is expected to take place between August and September.

Under Nunavut's land claim agreement, the Inuit are allowed to hunt one bowhead whale every two or three years. The last hunt was hosted by Repulse Bay in 2005.

Bowhead whales, which can grow up to 20 metres in length and live as long as 200 years, are considered to be a species at risk in Canada. Commercial whaling decimated thebowheads' numbers decades ago, but they are slowly rebounding.

Kugaaruk, with a population of about 700, is located nearly 1,100 kilometres west of Iqaluit on the southwest shore of the Simpson Peninsula.