Nunavut Wildlife Management Board says consultations needed on caribou limits

Both the Nunavut government and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board say the territory needs to look at the future of the Bathurst and Bluenose-East Caribou herds, but the board says it will require consultations with communities affected.

Last week, the Northwest Territories' environment minister and First Nations groups in the N.W.T. called for the Nunavut government to end commercial harvesting of the herds after new survey results showed significant declines in the populations.

• Nunavut's Bathurst caribou harvest 'problematic,' says N.W.T. minister

• N.W.T. aboriginal leaders call on Nunavut to restrict caribou harvest

"We have no restrictions and there is no limit," said Ben Kovic, chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

"There is the possibility that this eventually may come, but it takes a lot of political will and community will to do that," Kovic says.

He says the board is committed to holding a public hearing on the issue, but that won't happen until the Nunavut government consults all the communities affected about their basic needs and about a potential total allowable harvest.

So far, the NWMB says the government has only done a consultation on the latter.

In a statement last week, the Nunavut government said it shared the N.W.T. government's concerns, but noted that the territory harvests less than 100 caribou from the Bathurst herd annually.

Nunavut's minister of environment, Johnny Mike, told CBC he would not consider placing a temporary moratorium on harvesting caribou from the Bathurst herd.