Volume 8, 1955 - The Arctic Circle - Home

VOL. vm NC. r TH£ .·.BoCTIC CIRCUkR 13Quite apart from the waste involved in the escape of mortally woundedanimals. there is also the danger. in summer. of animals sinkingbefore they can be harpooned. particularly in this haphazard methodof hunting. The loss involved in this way in walrus is not known. butestimates for seal are of the order of three animals lost for everyOne landed, a situation which would never be tolerated in sporthunting or fishing farther south. (The loss of walrus in the BeringSea, by this method of hunting. is known to be quite large).Two things are being done to remedy this trouble: (1) methodsof so supervising the annual walrus kill as to avoid all waste arebeing worked out by the Department of Northern ~ffairs, and (2) basicresearch is being undertaken by the Wildlife Service and by theFisheries Research Board, with the continuation of the researchthe responsibility of the latter organization.In a memorandum to the Department of Northern ~ffairsMr. l.M. Gardner. whose 1954 address was Sugluk. on Hudson Strait.has suggested that a number of boats. of the Feterhead type commonlyused in the Canadian north. should be employed exclusively in walrushunting. each boat supplying a small group of settlements or tradingposts. The crew would be Eskimo. but there would be an officer onboard responsible for the regulation of the hunting. Something ofthis sort has been considered for some time. and will f-robably provethe answer to the immediate problem of eliminating wasteful hunting.Only males would be killed. and each animal hunted individually.In point of fac·. the problem of walrus conservation isonly one part of the whole problem of the rehabilitation of the Eskimoeconomy in Canada. a matter which invel ve" the exploration of otherpossible resources at fresent unused or under_exploited. such asshark fishing, cod fishing in Ungava Bay. the full use of the widelydietributed arctic char. and the development of sheep farming incertain parts. The development of other activities of this sort willnot only relieve the pressure on the walrus but also allOW thebeginnings of a "corporate" organization of settlements, with agreater division of economic employment between the members ofeachseU1e ment than is the case at present.This, however. is not the whole solution. Before the walrustake can be rationally controlled it is necessary to know a great dealmore about the biology of the walrus than we know now. Res earchdesigned to meet this need is in progress, comprising the study ofthe reproductive rate, age composition, distribution, migratoryhabits and f'resent numbers. This is not the place to describe thiswork in detail. One point, however. the migratory habits of thewalrus. might well be mentioned.