Increase in caribou harvest for Baffin region to continue for next 8 years

Harvesters of Baffin Island caribou can tag an additional hundred caribou for the next year as thetotal allowable harvest will increase for the next eight years. The decision comes in response to fears that caribou are increasing faster than the lichen they eat.

Move comes in response to fears that caribou are increasing faster than the lichen they eat

Luke Carroll CBC News Posted: Jul 22, 2022 4:03 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 22, 2022

Effective immediately, harvesters will be able to tag more Baffin Island caribou. The decision comes in response to fears that caribou are increasing faster than the lichen they eat. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Hunters in the Baffin regionwill be able to harvesthigher number of caribou for the next eight years.

This comes as the territory's minister of environment took the recommendation of theNunavut Wildlife Management Board to increase the total allowable harvest, a news release from the Nunavut governmentsaid.

Starting right now and untilJune 30, 2023, there will be an increase from 250 to 350 tags for Baffin Island caribou, of whichup to 75 tags may be used to harvest female caribou.

Each of the following seasons there will be an increase of 50 tags, up to 20 per cent of which can be used to harvest female caribou. This is expected torun for the next eight years or until new information becomes available requiring changes, the news release said.

The Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board (QWB) suggested this exact increase in June.

Baffin wildlife board makes case for increasing caribou harvest

Change needed to protect lichen

It arguedthat, based on Inuit knowledge and observations of caribou in many areas, "the long-term cycle has now entered a new critical phase" meaning a "major change" is needed to the current harvest management strategy being used by the territory.

It said Baffin Inuit have known about and managed the long-term population of caribou cycles that take place over the lifetime of an elder, or about 70 to 90 years.

Part of that cycle, the board continued, involves the lichen that caribou eat, which it said is depleted and needs time to replenish itself.

Caribou can increase faster than depleted lichen can grow, the board said, so a higher harvest would allow the lichen to grow enough to support a larger herdin the future.

The total allowable harvest was established to support the recovery of the Baffin Island caribou population.

Under the Nunavut Agreement, allocations of the total allowable harvestare the responsibility of the QWB.

Hunters and Trappers Organizations have the authority to allocate their share of the total allowable harvestand to regulate harvesting activities of their members, the release said.

With files from Jane George

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