POLAR BLOG
Snow goose control conundrum
TINUIT EXPERTS AND SCIENTISTS COLLABORATE TO MANAGE SKYROCKETING SNOW GOOSE NUMBERS
THE NUMBER OF SNOW GEESE arriving in the Arctic each spring to breed has skyrocketed over the past few decades. At first, wildlife biologists saw this as an environmental crisis, pointing to marshes denuded of plants by thousands of hungry birds. In response, the federal government loosened restrictions on goose hunting and considered culls in the birds’ Arctic breeding grounds to protect ecosystems. But how do Inuit, in whose backyard this is taking place, view the situation? A recent initiative is giving Inuit wildlife experts the opportunity to lend their knowledge to managing the species. The snow goose study, which is supported in part by Polar Knowledge Canada and led by the Kivalliq Wildlife Board (an Inuit organization that manages hunting, trapping and fishing in central Nunavut), asked experts in Coral Harbour and Arviat, on the north and west coasts of Hudson Bay, to share their generations of knowledge about geese and their views on what should be done. “The community had concerns about controlling the population,” says Ron Ningeongan, community liaison officer for the Kivalliq Inuit Association in Coral Harbour, “and Inuit snow goose knowledge had never been recorded. People wanted to pass on what they knew.” Inuit experts disagreed with a cull, considering it wasteful and disrespectful. They felt hunting more geese in an organized way, such as paying local hunters a minimal amount and distributing the birds to disadvantaged families or operating a limited commercial hunt employing locals, would be appropriate. “We need to use the geese to our best advantage as we manage the population,” says Ningeongan. Inuit wildlife experts will meet scientists this fall to search for common ground. Inuit say that while there may be too many geese in some areas, it’s not a crisis. Biologists now generally concur that there seems to be plenty of undamaged habitat available and newer research shows that some overgrazed areas can recover. Conservation planners for the three migratory bird sanctuaries in the area will use the study’s recommendations — an example of how Indigenous knowledge can strengthen wildlife management. “It’s providing people who the decisions affect with a real, practical way to make recommendations and influence what happens,” says Vicky Johnston, a Yellowknife-based biologist and manager with the Canadian Wildlife Service involved in the project. “Now that we have documented Inuit knowledge of snow geese,” says Ningeongan, “other people will be able to use the information to help manage the species. It is a very good project.”