Second North American Sea Duck Conference - Patuxent Wildlife ...

SECOND NORTH AMERICAN SEA DUCK CONFERENCE
CONSERVATION OF THE NORTHERN COMMON EIDER:
AN INTERNATIONAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHALLENGE
Jean-Pierre L. Savard¹ and Grant Gilchrist²
¹Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Canadian Wildlife, Service Quebec Region; jean-pierre.savard@ec.gc.ca
²Grant Gilchrist, Canadian Wildlife Service, Western and Northern Region
The northern common eider (Somateria mollissima borealis) presents a unique and unusual
management challenge. Little is known about the size of the population, and its breeding, molting
and wintering ecology are also poorly known. Meanwhile, it is intensively exploited by a great
diversity of users. In the summer, feather down, eggs and meat are collected on the breeding colonies
by Inuit from Nunavut and Nunavik. In winter, eiders are hunted for meat by Inuit from Greenland,
Innu from Canada, and non aboriginal from Canada and from St. Pierre and Miquelon, France.
During molt and fall migrations, eiders are hunted by Inuit from Nunavut, Nunavik and Greenland
as well as Innu from Quebec and Labrador. On the breeding areas in Nunavut Canada, the impact
of down harvesting, egg collection and adult harvest are poorly known due in part to the isolation
and geographic scale of the breeding areas. Down harvesting provides a sustainable way of using
eiders to generate local economic gains and has been part of traditional use in northern Canada.
However, the transition from a sustainable traditional harvest to an intensive commercial use needs
to be closely monitored. Indeed, recent conflicts between Nunavut and Nunavik Inuit over down
harvesting within shared land claim settlement areas are arising. In west Greenland, hunted birds
are sold commercially at public markets and the wintering population is likely over harvested there.
Spring and winter legal and illegal harvests in eastern North America are poorly quantified. Tensions
between aboriginal and non aboriginal hunters (especially on the St. Lawrence Lower North Shore),
and ongoing negotiations with the Innu in Labrador and Quebec further complicate this. Finally,
climate change may also influence northern eider ecology by modifying access to colonies by Inuit,
frequency of predators on nesting islands, and access to shallow feeding areas because of variable
sea ice conditions. We conclude that the management of the northern common eider must be tackled
on several fronts simultaneously (local, regional, provincial, national and international), and that
monitoring and research efforts must be increased. One crucial step is the education of all users about
the resource they share and their potential impact on the northern eider population and other users.
42 ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, USA NOV. 7-11, 2005