Nunavik orgs file appeal on federal polar bear quota decision – Nunatsiaq News

24 July 2020

Appeal challenges five-year-old decision on Inuit harvest of southern Hudson bay polar bears

Two Nunavik organizations are appealing a federal court decision that upholds a hunting quota for polar bears in southern Hudson Bay.

The debate over the region’s polar bear harvest dates back to 2011, where there was no regulated quota of that sub-population in Nunavik.

That year, the federal minister of environment requested the Nunavik Marine Regional Wildlife Board come up with total allowable take, or quota, for that sub-population, which is harvested by three different groups: Nunavik Inuit, Nunavut Inuit (Sanikiluaq) and James Bay Cree.

But when, in 2015, the respective wildlife boards proposed an annual quota of 28 polar bears, the minister rejected it and instead set the quota to 23.

Read More: https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/nunavik-orgs-file-appeal-on-federal-polar-bear-quota-decision/