Sometimes hunting can seem like business : polar bear sport hunting in Nunavut

Related Titles

Series: Occasional publication series (Canadian Circumpolar Institute)

By

Wenzel, George W.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

Edmonton, CCI Press, 2008

Notes

Partial Contents: ] -- 1. The study communities : Clyde River, Resolute, Taloyoak -- 2. Polar bears as a resource, an overview : Commodization of polar bears, 1850-1970 ; Business of polar bear sport hunting, 1970-1985 ; Contemporary sport-hunt, 1985- 200 -- 3. Inuit TEK and the Sport hunt [Traditional Ecological Knowledge] -- 4. Community organization of the hunt : Community dynamics and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit [IQ] -- 5. Sport hunting and Inuit subsistence -- 6. Community issues : Taloyoak and regulatory conflict ; Socio-economic relations in Resolute Bay ; Clyde River, hunting Inuktitut -- 7. Sport hunt benefits and costs -- 8. MOUs IQ and climate change : Nunavut's memorandum of understanding ; Inuit and biologists ; Climate Change, IQ and sport hunting vs. Polar bear

"No animal holds as visible or signifi cant a place in Canadian Inuit culture as the polar bear (nauuk). Inuit have hunted polar bear for millennia, for spiritual-cultural reasons and to contribute to the traditional food economy. But, by the 1900s, polar bear had become an item of economic value in Inuit-European commerce, and events in mid-century would lay the groundwork for signifi cant growth of the sport-hunt that culminated with the collapse of the sealskin economy. Although nanuk retains signifi cance as a subsistence resource, it has assumed a larger role than at any time in the past because sport hunting provides a means for highly skilled hunters to obtain monies needed to engage in a range of activities important to the food economy, bringing a subsistence value several times larger than the actual income generated. The objective of this research was to provide insight into whether or how sport hunting might play a (larger) strategic role in the conservation and management of polar bear.

The intent was to develop baseline information on what is often referred to as conservation hunting into Nunavut's evolving polar bear management regime. A second objective was to determine the economic benefi ts received by Inuit and their communities from the polar bear sport-hunt by examining Inuit participation in polar bear sport hunting in terms of both its monetary and socio-cultural importance in the communities of Taloyoak, Resolute and Clyde River. Finally, the dynamic between Inuit and Qallunaat regarding polar bear in the light of global climate concerns is reviewed. It is clear that polar-bear sport-hunting and the confl icts that arise from it are multi-layered, and this is as much an issue between Inuit and contested in a uniquely cultural realm. In fact, Inuit have submerged the opportunity to maximize the monetary potential of the sport-hunt in order to maintain a continuing essential cultural relationship with polar bear; as such, the cultural value Inuit place on polar bear hunting is decidedly more important than the purely economic return it might provide. It is a small irony that it is Inuit culture that provides something of a brake on what, economically-speaking, would be a more effi cient, even 'wiser' use of polar bear. For Inuit, the cultural, economic, and social aspects of polar bear hunting, including that carried on by visitors seeking tangible trophies, are equally intertwined."--back cover.

Subjects

Economic conditions , Hunting , Inuit , Nunavut , Polar bear hunting , Wildlife management

Call Number

SK295 .W46 2008

Classification

333.95/9786097195

Language

English

Identifiers

ISBN: 1896445438
ISBN: 9781772122428
ISBN: 9781896445434
LCCN: https://lccn.loc.gov/2009424884
OCLC: 953674675