Current projects

Surveying the herds

A total of 40 break-away satellite collars were deployed on the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou herds by the governments of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba and Nunavut in March 2006.
Government staff later discovered the 20 caribou cows they thought were all Beverly animals in fact came from a mix of herds, something that became evident as the caribou headed to their traditional calving grounds. The Bathurst, Ahiak and Qamanirjuaq caribou herd ranges overlap with the Beverly herd's winter range. Additional collars purchased by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada were deployed on cows on the Beverly calving ground during the 2007 post-calving season in order to increase the herd's collaring sample.
With satellite collaring in place – a critical prerequisite for conducting calving ground surveys – conditions are right for censuses of both herds. Governments hadn't done population counts of the herds since 1994. Mineral exploration has exploded on the caribou ranges since that time, new roads in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have paved the way for southern hunters, and growing caribou-range communities are adding to the harvesting pressure on the herds. The Beverly herd is thought to be close to its sustainable harvest limit now, according to the BQCMB's harvest calculation formula.
A survey of the Beverly herd was attempted in June 2007 but could not be completed due to bad weather. However, the very low densities of caribou witnessed during the few times the survey team was airborne appear to point to a decline in population (see "Decline suspected in Beverly population," Caribou News in Brief, December 2007). The BQCMB is currently lobbying for funding that would allow the governments of Nunavut and Manitoba to conduct a survey of the Qamanirjuaq herd in June 2008.

Calling for the protection of caribou and caribou habitat

An increasing flurry of development activities, including mineral exploration and mining, road construction, and hydroelectric power expansion, is poised to threaten the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou. Growing communities and an influx of southern hunters arriving via new roads are likely straining herd populations as well. Action is urgently needed to protect the caribou herds and their habitat, but because there's not enough recent data about the herds and how caribou are using their ranges, it's uncertain whether wise management decisions are being made.

In September 2004, the BQCMB released Protecting Calving Grounds, Post-Calving Areas and Other Important Habitats for Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou, a position paper that makes many recommendations for improving the protection of caribou and caribou habitat. With the increasing levels of human-caused disturbance on the caribou ranges – particularly in Nunavut's Kivalliq region where most of the calving grounds are located – government policies aren't adequate to safeguard the herds' traditional calving grounds and other important habitats.

The BQCMB wants to work closely with communities, governments, industry and conservation agencies in order to acquire much-needed information about the caribou herds and their ranges, and to prescribe measures for caribou protection. Consultation with communities and other stakeholders is taking place first to see what northerners think of the BQCMB's recommendations, and for that reason, the BQCMB is distributing a plain language summary of its position paper in English, Inuktitut and Dene to communities and others.

Community caribou projects

Under a new initiative, the BQCMB is providing funding to communities for community caribou hunts designed to provide an opportunity for youth to experience and learn from a caribou hunt, and possibly to furnish the BQCMB with valuable caribou body condition and harvest data. Funding is available yearly for each caribou-range jurisdiction – Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut and NWT – for projects ideally targeting school-age youth.
Three communities have taken advantage of this new BQCMB initiative so far. Students at John Arnalukjuak High School in Arviat, accompanied by elders and experienced hunters, conducted a caribou hunt in September 2007. Father Megret High School in Wollaston Lake carried out caribou hunts followed up by caribou body condition and harvest data collection in March, 2007. Meanwhile, Petit Casimir Memorial School in Lac Brochet held interviews with 19 hunters for their observations of caribou and weather in April 2007, using a questionnaire designed by Board members. In a separate undertaking organized by BQCMB Chairman Jerome Denechezhe in co-operation with Petit Casimir Memorial School, a caribou hunt and data collection is planned for Lac Brochet later in 2008.

Socio-economic evaluation of the herds

A new socio-economic evaluation of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq herds puts the total annual net value of the caribou harvest at more than $20 million. Winnipeg-based InterGroup Consultants conducted a socio-economic evaluation of the two herds to determine their financial worth, along with the cultural and social importance of the herds to those who rely on them. The last economic evaluation was conducted by the Government of the Northwest Territories in 1990, and that looked only at the domestic harvest. This study examined the domestic harvest and resident licensed hunting harvest (determining value through a replacement such as beef), as well as outfittting and the commercial sale of caribou meat (using the market values of those products).

According to the 2008 report, Nunavut benefits most from harvesting the herds. Its share of the harvest is valued at almost $12 million. The value of Manitoba's share of the harvest is about $4 million, while the value of Saskatchewan's share of the harvest is over $3 million. The value of NWT's share of the harvest is less than $1 million. The InterGroup report also found that the domestic harvest accounted for more than $15 million of the $20 million-plus total net annual value of the herds. The outfitting industry accounts for most of the remaining value of the caribou, more than $4 million yearly.

Additional values are derived from the use of skins for clothing and bedding, and bones and antlers for handicrafts. Apart from purely economic factors, the use of caribou is important to the culture and traditional lifestyle of aboriginal people. As part of its research for its report, InterGroup Consultants conducted eight community interviews (two per jurisdiction) to better understand the social and cultural importance of the caribou harvest. All respondents saw harvesting caribou as integral to preserving and, where necessary, revitalizing their culture. Important activities like passing on traditional knowledge and learning outdoor wilderness survival skills take place while hunting caribou.

The final report will be available from download from www.arctic-caribou.com in spring 2008.