The polarbear hunt in Greenland. Technical Report No. 45

1 Technical report No. 45, 2002 Greenland Institute of Natural Resources The polar bear hunt in Greenland 2 Title: The polarbear hunt in Greenland Author: Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid Translation: Sofia Geisler Series:Technical report No. 45, 2002 Publisher: Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Coverphoto: Most polar bear hunts in Greenland still involves the use of dogs Photo: Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid Layout: Kirsten Rydahl ISBN: 87-90024-99-0 ISSN: 1397-3657 Printing: Oddi Ltd., Reykjavik, Iceland Prints: 100 Reference: Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu, 2002. The polarbear hunt in Greenland. Technical report No. 45. Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk. 25 pp. Key words: Greenland, Polar bears, hunting Available from:Greenland Institute of Natural Resources P. O . Box 570 DK-3900 Nuuk Greenland Phone: +299 32 10 95 Fax: +299 32 59 57 www.natur.gl 3 The polar bear hunt in Greenland Technical report No. 45, 2002 Greenland Institute of Natural Resources By Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid 4 Abstract The hunt for polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in Greenland has no restrictions as to the number of bears that can be killed each year. There are, however, limitations in the type of hunting gear that can be used, as well as restrictions in the hunt of females and cubs. These restrictions effectively prevent the increase of the range of the hunters, but they have only limited effect within the hunting area. Most polar bears are hunted with dog sledges during winter and spring as in earlier days but an increasing number of bears are caught from small skiffs in summer and fall. The total yield has been stable in East Greenland during the last decades, whereas Central and Northwest Greenland have experienced an increase since mid 1980’s, probably as a result of more bears in the area. More old bears are caught in Ittoqqortoormiit than in Avanersuaq, and along the coast, there seems to be several segregations between sex and age groups. Catch statistics are an important tool in the management of the species but the present system for registering the polar bear catches does fail in some instances and can be improved. Sammenfatning Der er ingen øvre grænse for den årlige fangst af isbjørne i Grønland. Der er dog begrænsninger for hvad type jagtudstyr der må bruges, og der er restriktioner på fangst af hunbjørne og unger. Disse restriktioner har på en effektivt måde forhindret, at fangerne har forøget deres jagtområde, men inden for det anvendte fangstområde har regelerne kun begrænset effekt. Som tidligere bliver de fleste isbjørne fanget fra hundeslæde om vinteren og foråret, men et stigende antal isbjørne fanges nu om sommeren og efteråret fra joller eller små motorbåde. Den totale fangst i Østgrønland har været stabil gennem de sidste årtier, men fangsten er siden midten af 1980’erne steget i Centralog Nordgrønland - sandsynligvis fordi der er flere isbjørne i området. Der bliver fanget flere gamle isbjørne i Ittoqqortoormiit end i Avanersuaq, og langs kysten syntes der at være flere udspaltninger af kønsog aldersgrupper. Fangststatistikken er et vigtigt redskab til brug for forvaltningen af denne art, men det nuværende system fejler i visse situationer, og kan forbedres. Eqikkaaneq Nannut ukiumut pisarineqarsinnaasut qassiunissaat aalajangersarneqanngilaq. Piniarnermili atortut aalajangersaaffigineqarsimapput soorlulu nannut arnaviat piaraasalu piniarneqarsinnaanerat immikkut aalajangersaaffigineqarsimasoq. Aalajangersakkat pissutaallutik sumiiffiik piniarfiusoq annertusinngilaq, sumiiffinnili piniarfiusuni imminermi maleruagassat sunniutaat annikippoq. Nannut pisarineqartut ukiuunerani upernaajuneranilu qimussimik pisarineqartarput, amerliartuinnartulli aasaanerani ukiaaneranilu umiatsiaaqqat atorlugit pisarineqartalerput. Ukiut qulikkaat qaangiuttut ingerlaneranni Tunumi pisarisartakkat amerlassutsimikkut taamaaginnartut 1980-ikkut qiteqqunneranniit Kitaani Avannaanilu pisarineqartartut amerliartorput, tamaani nannut amerliartornerat patsisaasinnaalluni. Avanersuarmut sanilliullugu nannut utoqqaat Illoqqortoormiuni pisarineqartartut amerlanerupput; suiaassusaat utoqqaassusaallu eqqarsaatigalugit uumasoqatigiit sinerissami naammattuugassaasut imminnut attuumassuteqanngitsut ilimanarsinnaalluni. Nannut piniarneqarnerannik nakkutiginninnermut atatillugu pisanik nalunaarsuineq pingaaruteqarluinnarpoq - nalunaarsueriaaserli atorneqartoq amigaateqarsinnaasarpoq tamannali iliuuseqarfigineqarsinnaavoq. 5 Polar bears have probably been hunted in Greenland for as long as the Inuit have inhabited the island. Today modern rifles execute the final kill, but the majority of the hunts are still likely to involve dogs and sledges, as in earlier times. There is no limit to the number of bears that can be taken but vehicles (including snow mobiles) and boats larger than 40 BRT may not be used in the hunt or as transportation to or from the hunting place. It is not allowed to use poison, any kind of trap, small caliber rifles, shotguns or semiand fully automatic rifles. In the municipalities Avanersuaq, Upernavik, Ammassalik and Ittoqqortoormiit, cubs up to one year of age and their mothers are protected throughout the year, a rule that applies for mothers and 2 Introduction year old cubs in the rest of Greenland. The hunting season for females lasts from September to July, except in Ammassalik, where the hunting season is from October to August. Adult males may be hunted throughout the year (Anon 1994). These regulations prevent the hunters from improving their efficiency with modern technology, while at the same time allowing a relatively free and uncontrolled hunt in areas where enforcement of the law is difficult anyway. The present paper describes and discusses trends in the yield of polar bears on the basis of available information about the catch numbers and the geographical, seasonal and demographical distribution of the kills along the coast. Data overview For each of the described areas a comprehensive overview of the available polar bear trade and catch statistics is given by extraction from the following sources: Data from Disko Bay to Upernavik (1796-1882) is skin purchase extracted by Christian Vibe from “Koloniregnskaberne” and “Skematiske indberetninger” and published in his doctoral thesis (1967). Data on skin purchase (1882-1908) are from “Meddelelser fra Direktoratet for den kongelige grønlandske handel” and data for the period 1909-37 are from “Beretninger og kundgørelser vedrørende Kolonierne I Grønland”. From 1938 to 1953, data are from ”Beretninger vedrørende Grønlands styrelse” and data from 1954 to 1983 are from the official catch statistic (“List of Game”). The period 1984 to 1998 is a mixture of unpublished data collected for the official catch statistic (1984-87), skin purchase, data from interviews and a sample-collection, data from “Piniarneq” (1993-98) and data from the hunting reports (1995-98) (see below). The official hunting statistics (“List of Game” and “Piniarneq”) The “List of Game” (Anon 1954-83 & unpublished data 1984-87) is based upon the principle that an appointed person from each settlement kept account of the kills made by all the hunters in his settlement and reported these to the central authorities on a form for each hunter (Kapel & Rosing-Asvid 1995). When such reports for some reason were missing, an estimate of the yield was made based upon “other information”. These reports were made for most hunters until mid 1970’s, after which the reporting slowly deteriorated and stopped in 1987. “Piniarneq” was initiated in Material and methods 6 October 1992 and is still ongoing. The principle of this system is that each hunter, to renew his hunting license, has to report his kills once a year by filling out a form that specifies kills/species/month. This is done in September and the total numbers for a given year are published with a delay of approximately two years. Since 1995, hunters have also been obliged to go to the local office to fill in a hunting report with date, position, sex and approximate age of any killed polar bear. The purchase of hides Most polar bear hides from the East Coast of Greenland are sold to a government owned company and their records provide a good minimum estimate of the polar bears caught in the area. The “Royal Greenland Trading Department” (KGH) monopolized this trade until 1953 where Greenland changed status from a Danish colony to a county within the Danish kingdom. Although the fur marked now was open for others, KGH continued as the only fur trader in Greenland but the increasing number of Danes working in Greenland is likely to have increased the number of hides that were sold directly to private persons. Shortly after the establishment of a home rule government in Greenland in 1979, a tannery was built in Southwest Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaatta Ammerivia – now also known as Great Greenland). In 1987 it adopted the fur trade and the Greenland Statistical Office (GSK) annually announces their purchases of polar bear hides. Information from a tissue sampling program Between 1988 and 1996, the hunters in the municipalities of Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresby Sund) and Avanersuaq (Thule) were provided with sample bags in order to collect various tissue samples from freshly killed bears. Along with this went a questionnaire about date and position of the kill, hunting method, sex and age category of the bear (young, adult, old), and, for family groups, the number of cubs and their approximate age. A total of 275 samples from Ittoqqortoormiit and 97 samples from Avanersuaq were collected. Additionally, 39 similar data sets from Ittoqqortoormiit, collected by the Greenland Environmental Research Institute in the period 1983-87, are included in the analysis presented here. For all the samples where a tooth was delivered, an estimated age was determined by counting the annuli in the tooth cementum, according to Calwert and Ramsay (1998). Interviews and questionnaires In 1988, three very active polar bear hunters from Ittoqqortoormiit filled in questionnaires about the bears they had hunted. Some of these data are used in the section about the demographic composition of the kills in Ittoqqortoormiit. In 1989, seventy hunters from Avanersuaq were interviewed about their polar bear hunts. These hunters represented approximately 60% of the hunters in the municipality and close to 100% of the experienced polar bear hunters. The interviews were conducted in Greenlandic and the hunters were asked to give detailed information about time and place of as many polar bear kills as possible. Furthermore, information was collected on sex and approximate size of the bears by categorizing the kills as “small”, “medium” or “large”. An approximate age was recorded for the cubs and it was noted whether the adult bears had been alone, in a family group, or together with a mate. The hunters also had to name other participants in the hunt. Later, the notes were summarized for each hunter and the information crosschecked with that of the other hunters. Some hunters only remembered details from the last 2-3 years and complete coverage was only possible for 1988-89. A total data set of 150 polar bear kills from the period 198089 was obtained. 7 In 1990, twenty-one hunters from Upernavik (representing 7-8% of the occupational hunters of the municipality) were interviewed. This provided similar information Figure 1. The Greenland coastline with names of areas mentioned in the text (Map 1) . about 47 polar bears killed in the period 1984-90. Results from both series of interviews can be seen in more details in Rosing-Asvid & Born (1990). Ammassalik 8 Catch history Scoresby Sund (later known as Ittoqqortoormiit) was established in 1925 and more than 100 polar bears were taken in the first year. The catches were high for the first 5 years, but then slowly dropped to a level of around 20/year in the beginning of the 1960’s. Prices on polar bear hides were very low in the beginning of the 1960’s but increased from 500 DKK in 1967 (Sandell & Sandell 2001) to 6.300 DKK in 1972 (Anon. 1973). The catches also increased a little but quickly stabilized with an average around 30/year. (Figure 2). Trends in the recent years catch numbers The “List of Game” from 1972-86 has an average of 42 polar bears killed in Ittoqqortoormiit annually (range: 19-69) and “PiFigure 4. Trends in the number of reported kills of polar bears, the number of hides purchased to KGH/Great Greenland, the official number of kills, the numbers given by Sandell & Sandell (1996) and the estimated minimum kill given in fig.1. Figure 2. The number of polar bears caught in Ittoqqortoormiit 1925-98 (data is a mixture of hide purchase and catch statistics). Figure 3. The number of tissue samples collected in Ittoqqortoormiit compared with the number of hides sold to Great Greenland, the reported kills (“Piniarneq”) the hunting reports from the period 1993-96 and a minimum yield obtained by combining these datasets. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Tissue samples Hides Piniarneq Minimum catch Filled in forms Number 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1925/1926 1932/1933 1939/1940 1946/1947 1953/1954 1960/1961 1968 1975 1982 1989 1996 Number The polar bear hunt in Ittoqqortoormiit niarneq” 1993-98 has an annual average yield of 32 (range: 26-43). However, by comparing data from the tissue sampling program with data about the reported kills, a minimum estimate was obtained for the years 1993-95 that is higher than the reported kills (Figure 3). Sandell & Sandell (1996) found that 46 bears were killed in 1993 and Sandell et al. (2001) found by interviewing 30 hunters that the catches in the period 1994-98 had been at least; 49, 58, 28, 27 and 50 respectively. Using these numbers, together with our minimum estimate for 1995 and the hide purchases in 1996, an annual average of 52 killed polar bears is obtained for 199398 (range: 34-68) (Figure 4). 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 Reported catches Hide purchase Offical catch number Sandel & Sandel Minimum catch Number 9 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. List of Game 1975-83 % Hide purchase is the most consistent data set for the period 1972-97. A linear regression analysis between year and hide purchase gives a stable catch of around 31.1 hides without any trend (y = 0.03x +31.1; r2 = 0.0002; df = 22; P = 0.95). Comments: Following old East Greenland traditions, the hide of a polar bear belongs to the person who first spots the bear, no matter if he/she participates in the hunt. Most hides are sold and the purchase records for Ittoqqortoormiit and Ammassalik give a good minimum estimate of the total yield, especially after the increased prices in the late 1960’s. Sandell & Sandell (1996) studied resource utilization, with special emphasis on the polar bears in Ittoqqortoormiit. From 1972 to 1995, they visited the area each year (with few exceptions), and found the official number of kills Figure 5. The positions of 267 polar bear kills in Ittoqqortoormiit from the period 1983 to 1996 (data from the sampling program). Figure 6a + b. a) The seasonal distribution of all reported polar bear kills in Ittoqqortoormiit reported in the “List of Game” (1975-83) and b) The seasonal distribution of the catches from the sampling program in Ittoqqortoormiit divided by area (1988-96). offered by “List of Game” is quite reliable, despite poor reporting in some years. For the period without statistics (1987-92), their notes about the numbers of kills (Sandell & Sandell 1996) are used in Figures 2 and 4. Both their and our data shows that the new official catch statistic, “Piniarneq”, fails in some years (see discussion). The polar bear hunting practice in Ittoqqortoormiit There are three main areas for polar bear hunts in Ittoqqortoormiit: 1) near the settlements. 2) on the Blosseville Coast, south of the settlements. 3) along the coast far north of the settlements (Figure 5). Kills near the settlements and on the Blosseville coast take place in all seasons but the hunting far north of the settlements is only in spring (March-June) (Fig. 6). 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Other North coast Near the settlements South coast Samples 1988-96 (N =250) % 16 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. List-of-Game 1975-83 (N = 22) Piniarneq 1993-98 (N = 115) % 0 10 20 30 40 50 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 Reported kills Official number of kills Number of hunters reporting Reported and official number of kills Number of hunters reporting Davis Strait gets close to the Greenland coast. Some bears are killed near the coast, others by hunters searching for walrus and beluga along the edge of the Baffin Bay pack ice. It is not possible to quantify the use of hunting methods in the area, but most bears are probably shot from boats. In the latest years “Piniarneq” has reported several bears from August to October (Fig. 17), which is very unusual, and most likely to be an error (see discussion). Comments: The fjord and land ice conditions from Nuuk to Sisimiut are very similar to those further south with open water in most coastal areas, but from Sisimiut to Uummannaq both fjord ice and coastal fast ice is formed in most areas. The drift ice from the East Coast seldom reaches as far north as Nuuk and close to all bears are believed to come from the Baffin Bay/ Davis Strait pack ice. The demography of the polar bears killed in Central West Greenland The only data on the demographic structure of the bears from Central West Greenland is the information from 13 hunting reports from 1995-98. One of these bears was probably 2-years old, three were young bears, and nine were adult bears, of which four consisted of two mating pairs. Figure 16. Trends in the reported kills of polar bears, the official number of kills and the number of hunters reporting in Central West Greenland. Figure 15. Number of polar bears caught in Central West Greenland (Nuuk-Uummannaq) 18821998 (data is a mixture of hide purchase and catch statistics). Figure 17. Seasonal distribution of the polar bear kills from Central West Greenland, according to the “List of Game” 1975-83 and Piniarneq 1993-98. Catch history The Baffin Bay pack ice comes close to the coast in the northern part of Upernavik district, where polar bears hunts take place on a regular basis. The catches were low during the warm period, 1925 to 1970; they stayed low during the colder 1970’s, where the population probably was diminished The polar bear hunt in Upernavik after a period with overexploitation of the stock on the Canadian side during the 1960’s. In mid 1980’s, the catches increased to a level around or slightly higher than the level around the beginning of the last century (Fig. 18). 0 10 20 30 40 50 1882/1883 1892/1893 1902/1903 1912/1913 1922/1923 1932/1933 1942/1943 1952/1953 1962/1963 1973 1983 1993 17 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Reported kills Offical number of kills Number of hunters reporting Official and Reported number of Number of hunters reporting 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1796/1797 1813/1814 1830/1831 1847/1848 1864/1865 1881/1882 1898/1899 1915/1916 1932/1933 1949/1950 1966/1967 1984 Number The hide purchase statistics goes further back than shown on Figure 18, but for the period 1800 to 1982, I have only been able to come up with the combined data from the area Disko Bay to Upernavik (Fig. 19). Trends in the recent years catch statistics According to the “List of Game” for the period 1970–87, an annual average of 9 polar bears were killed in the Upernavik municipality (range: 1-41). “Piniarneq” 1993-98, gives an annual average of 37 (range: 25-48) (Fig. 20). Comments: The “List-of-Game” has functioned well in Upernavik and in only two of the latest years was the official number of kills adjusted for non-reported bears. During the 1980’s many hunters from Upernavik seems to have adopted the tradition from Avanersuaq of wearing polar bear pants and therefore they have also adopted the Avanersuaq tradition of dividing the outcome of a polar bear hunt in (Fig 21) so only few hides has been purchased from Upernavik during the latest decades. Most ringed seal skins, however, are sold to Great Greenland and there is a good correlation between the number of reported ringed seals and the skin purchase. This indicates that “Piniarneq” works well in Upernavik. Figure 20. Trends in the number of reported kills of polar bears, the official number of kills and the number of hunters reporting in Upernavik. Figure 18. Number of polar bears caught in Upernavik 1882-1998 (data is a mixture of hide purchase and catch statistics). Figure 19. Number of polar bears caught from Disko Bay to Upernavik 1796-1998 (data is a mixture of hide purchase and catch statistics). Figure 21. Division of the polar bear hides in Avanersuaq and Upernavik. Most hides are used for polar bear pants. Following the tradition, four hunters get a part of the hide, according to the order in which they arrived to the bear; a fifth hunter only gets a part of the meat. If four hunters kill a bear, the one who caught up with the bear and kills it gets: Hide part 1 + the skull + meat part (the back and left foreleg). Hunter no. 2 gets: Hide (2) + meat (right foreleg). Hunter no. 3 gets: Hide (3) + meat (one hind leg). Hunter no. 4 gets: Hide (4) + meat (one hind leg). A, B and C shows how the hide is divided if the number of hunters is 4, 3 and 2, respectively. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1882/1883 1892/1893 1902/1903 1912/1913 1922/1923 1932/1933 1942/1943 1952/1953 1962/1963 1973 1983 1993 18 The polar bear hunting practice in Upernavik Several hunters from Upernavik moved to the settlement of Savissivik in Avanersuaq during the 1960’s and 1970’s and strong family ties now connect these two former relatively separate areas. Back then, there were only few polar bears around Upernavik. The hunt peaked in April and many of these bears were taken during hunting trips by hunters together with new friends or relatives from Avanersuaq (information from the interviews), or on route to or from visits in Savissivik. In the last half of the 1980´s, the number of bears caught around Upernavik has increased, especially in the dark months of December and January. Many bears are now found in early spring around the shallow banks off Upernavik (Fig. 24), where many of the bears have been shot in the latest years (Fig. 22). Another new trend, according to “Piniarneq” is that more catches are made from August and September. Most polar bears are hunted by sledge and the demographic composition obtained is very similar to that from the southern part of Avanersuaq (table 3). Comments: The ice conditions along the coast of Upernavik are not very different from areas farther south. But the gap between the consolidated pack ice of Baffin Bay and the coastal fast ice is narrowing considerably in the northern part of the district, where a shift from a sub-arctic to a high-arctic marine fauna occurs. The two ice habitats are separated by drift ice that can be crossed here by dog sledge, hereby accessing an area with a high density of bears. According to some of the older hunters the shallow banks off the coast of Upernavik, now have many bears, as compared to their visits back in the 1970’s, when not many bears were seen. Figure 22. The seasonal distribution of the kills in Upernavik, according to the data from a) “List of Game” 1970-83, b) The interviews 1983-90 and c) “Piniarneq” 1993-98. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 January March May July September November Number Upernavik South Upernavik North Upernavik Interviews 1983-90 N = 48 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 January March May July September November Number Upv South Upv North N = 210 Upernavik Piniarneq 1993-98 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Jan Mar Maj Jul Sep Nov Numbe r Upv. South Upv. North Upernavik List-of-Game 1970-83 N = 122 19 Catch history Catch statistics from Avanersuaq are very scarce. Hunters from this area use the polar bear hide to make the traditional polar bear pants and skin purchase statistics give no indication of the number of bears taken. Furthermore, the “List of Game” never functioned properly in this region and it only offers information for some years. Born (1987) estimated, on the basis of information from local hunters, who kills since mid 1970´s were in the order of 30 per year. Based on interviews with hunters, Rosing-Asvid & Born (1990) estimated the number of kills in 1988 and 1989 to have been 24 and 48, respectively. Both of these years, however, were said to be unusual. In 1988, the distemper virus killed many of the dogs in the area, thus only few hunters could hunt polar bears that year. On the contrary 1989 was said to have been a year with extraordinarily high numbers of bears and a yield above normal. The average number of kills for the 1980´s is, therefore, likely to have been somewhere between the yields of 1988 and 1989, probably close to 30 per year. Trends in the recent years catch statistics The “List of Game” has an annual average of 25 polar bears killed in Avanersuaq during 1978-85 (range: 16–35), mostly based on “other information”, whereas “Piniarneq” 1993-98 has an average of 29 (range: 22–41) (Fig 23). The polar bear hunting-practice in Avanersuaq The polar bear hunt in Avanersuaq can be divided into the following three geographical areas: 1) Kane Basin, 2) The area between Kane Basin and Melville Bay, 3) Melville Bay and the Northeastern part of the consolidated pack ice of Baffin Bay (Fig 24). The polar bear hunt in Avanersuaq Figure 23. Trends in the reported kills of polar bears, the official number of kills and the number of hunters reporting their kills in Avanersuaq. Figure 24. The most important areas for polar bear hunting in Avanersuaq and Upernavik. The hachured area is where nearly all catches are done. The reticulated areas are most often searched by the polar bear hunters. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1989 1994 1996 1998 Number of Kills -10 10 30 50 70 90 110 130 150 Number of hunters reporting Reported kills Kills (Interview) Number of hunters reporting Offical number of kills 20 The polar bear hunts in Kane Basin take place mainly in April, along the northern edge of the North Water polynia. According to the interviews, these hunts produce approximately 25% of the harvest in Avanersuaq (5-10 per year). Most bears are likely to be discovered and shot (approximately 5 per year) on the stretch between Kane Basin and Melville Bay due to the limited ice cover and relatively dense traffic. There is no peak season for these kills. The annual number of kills by hunters from Avanersuaq in the Melville Bay/Baffin Bay area is usually around 10-20. Some bears are killed accidentally during other hunting activities or when they enter the Savissivik settlement or a hunting camp, but most bears are killed during active bear hunts in March-April. Some hunters search for polar bears along the ice edge, whereas others cross the gap of drift ice to hunt on the consolidated pack ice in Baffin Bay. The seasonal distribution of the catches in the three areas is shown in Figure 25 a-c. Comments: The ice in Melville Bay is very stable until it breaks up in July-August. Shallow-water banks along the northern part of the bay are covered with huge icebergs from the glaciers, which dominate the inner part of the Bay. The glacier-front area is believed to be an important breeding ground for both ringed seals and polar bears and it has been protected as a sanctuary since 1980. The gap between the fast ice of Melville Bay and the consolidated pack ice of Baffin Bay can be crossed by dog sledge in March, but when weather warms up in late April the pack ice retreats toward Canada. After that, only few polar bears are left on the remaining ice along the Greenland Coast, where their number will stay low until the ice once again bridges the Baffin Bay gap in November. Some of the hunters from the central part of Avanersuaq participate in the hunt on the consolidated pack ice in Baffin Bay; others travel northward to hunt in the Kane Basin area. Previously, hunters from Avanersuaq also used to hunt polar bears, musk oxen and Figure 25 a+b+c. The seasonal distribution of the kills in Avanersuaq according to: a) The interviews (1980-89), b) The sampling program (1988-93) and c) “Piniarneq” 1993-96. Photo: Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid Icebergs stranded in Melville Bay. Avanersuaq Interviews 1980-89 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Number Kane Basin Central Avanersuaq Melville Bay N = 150 Avanersuaq Samples 1988-93 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Number Kane Basin Central Avanersuaq Melville Bay N = 88 0 10 20 30 40 Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Avanersuaq Piniarneq 1993-98 N = 187 Number 21 caribou on Ellesmere Island. The area was considered a natural part their hunting ground and spending the summer in the eastern part of the island was normal. In 1967 however, Canada restricted the polar bear hunt with quotas and Inuit from Greenland were no longer allowed to hunt bears in Canadian territory. Therefore, the hunt is now restricted to the Greenland side, where the northern edge of the North Water polynia is considered to be the best area. This ice edge usually breaks up in July and, in late June, walruses and narwhals might concentrate at the edge because the ice blocks their migration further north. These large mammals are hunted with small boats; the meat is put in depots on the coast for dog food for the polar bear hunts during the coming spring. Only few polar bears are caught in summertime and close to all kills in Avanersuaq are made from dog sledge. Figure 26. Age composition of 63 polar bears from Avanersuaq, aged by counting annuli in a premolar tooth. Area Datasource Independent Males Independent Females Dependent Cubs Kane Basin Interviews (N = 38) Samples (N = 13) 71% 76% 24% 24% 5% 0% Kane Basin to Melville Bay Interviews (N = 27) Samples (N = 17) 52% 39% 37% 46% 11% 15% Melville Bay/Baffin Bay Interviews (N = 90) Samples (N = 63) 55% 46% 32% 33% 13% 21% Avanersuaq Total Interviews (N = 155) Samples (N = 93) 58% 49% 31% 33% 11% 18% Upernavik Interviews (N = 47) 62% 26% 13% The demography of the catches in Avanersuaq The kills from Kane Basin include more independent males than other areas, but the data sets from the interviews and the samples have to be pooled to make the sex-/age composition in the northern area significantly different from that of central and southern Avanersuaq (? = 9.012; df = 2; P = 0.01) (see Table 3) Only four of the fifty-three aged bears from Avanersuaq were more than 10 years old (Fig. 26), whereas 28 of the aged bears from Ittoqqortoormiit (N = 122) were older than 10 years (Fig. 6) (Two-sided Fisher’s exact test P = 0.02). Table 3. The demographic composition of polar bear kills according to data from the interviewed hunters (most kills were from 1982-89), and the tissue sampling program (kills from 1988-1996). Photo: Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid Polar bear pants and “women kamiks” bleaching in the sun. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 01234567891011121314151617181920 Age Number Female N = 25 Male N = 38 Avanersuaq 22 The trends in catch number and the reliability of the catch statistics When comparing the reported polar bear kills from “Piniarneq” with “other information”, it becomes clear that not all killed polar bears are reported. Unlike the previous system (“List of Game”) “other information” is not used to adjust or improve the official number of kills. This is a serious weakness, which can easily give misleading numbers. This is especially true when few hunters account for most of the kills, as is the case in Ittoqqortoormiit. Of the 275 tissue samples we collected in the municipality, half of them came from only 5 hunters, and two of those delivered 38% of the samples. However, as the only place in Greenland, many hunters in Ittoqqortoormiit filled in “hunting reports” at the municipality office when this became obligatory in 1995. In the first year, the number of forms filled in was twice as high as the number of bears reported through “Piniarneq” but, in 1997, the forms accounted for only 80% of the kills reported. It is not unlikely that the high number of reports in the first year had something to do with the fact that samples for the tissue sampling program (that ended in 1996) were delivered and paid for at the same office where the forms had to be filled in. Hunters reporting to “Piniarneq” have to fill in their kills of various animals in a table that lists all game. Simple errors like ringed seals reported as walruses or polar bears occur. These kinds of errors are negligible for species where the annual yield is several thousand, but a few seals or birds misplaced as polar bears can have a great impact on the statistics. In some cases, direct questioning of the hunter checks the kills, but checking the data is not a standard procedure and some over-reporting is found in most of the species where the annual harvest is low. This is most likely to occur in South and Central West Greenland where more than 80 % of the hunters live and where the number of polar bear kills is low. Another type of error occurs because the hunter does not have to report to “Piniarneq” where the bear was shot. Most polar bears are killed outside Central Greenland and if a hunter from here shoots a bear during a visit in Northwest or East Greenland, this kill will be assigned to the municipality, in which he lives and thus misplaced. These errors should be avoided by the obligatory hunting reports, but so far this system has only covered a low fraction of the bears reported through “Piniarneq”. The number of polar bear kills reported in Central Greenland might be overestimated with this new reporting system, however, the trend toward more polar bears caught in West Greenland since the mid 1980’es is undoubtedly true. For the period 1970-87 the reported catches only averaged 2/year in Central West Greenland, which is less than reported through the medias the latest years or by the forms that for some kills have been filled in at the local offices since 1995. The interviewed hunters from Upernavik also reported a marked increase in the number of polar bears in the area since mid 1980’s. On the East Coast there is a high annual variability in the catches, but there seems to be no overall trend in the catches since the drop that occurred during the 1920’s. Trends in the hunting practice and the effect of hunting restrictions The relatively free and intensive hunt within the range of the hunters can only be sustained if polar bears continue to immigrate from elsewhere. The same is true for many species of whales, seals and birds. Most Inuit settlements are placed in subarctic areas or near polynias, where open water creates an important wintering area Discussion 23 for many marine mammal species of the high arctic and an important summerfeeding area for a number of boreal species. The production from a huge area can thus be harvested here and this favourable game condition has made permanent settlements possible for a relatively high number of people. For many species the areas will be a sink that requires net immigration from neighbouring areas to keep the hunt going. It is likely that a continuous hunt during many decades has created an equilibrium with the surplus production of polar bears from the Northeast Greenland National Park and adjacent areas on the East Coast and The Baffin Bay and adjacent waters on the West Coast. The population of polar bears hunted in West Greenland is also hunted in Canada, especially after the establishment of several settlements along Baffin Island in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was probably severely over-harvested, especially when the snowmobile was introduced in the late 1960’s (Urquhart & Schweinsburg 1984). A quota system was imposed in 1968 and the increased numbers of polar bears caught in West Greenland in the beginning of the 1980’s (making the catches of the same magnitude as in earlier days) is probably due to the recovery of the population. On the East Coast, the establishment of Ittoqqortoormiit in 1925 did not amplify the total harvest. On the contrary the total number of polar bears catches from this population declined. The few families that moved to Ittoqqortoormiit killed more than 100 polar bears during their first year, where after the average number slowly dropped to around 30-40 per year. At the same time, the number of polar bear catches dropped dramatically in both Ammassalik and Southwest Greenland, where the total annual harvest was more than a hundred in the beginning of the century. The total harvest from the East Coast population decreased to around 80/year and has now been stable for more than 50 years. This new level of polar bears in the area is likely to be a consequence of the dramatic warming and decrease in the amount of ice in the Greenland Sea, which took place in the beginning of the previous century. The polar bear hunt in Greenland covers only a fraction of the range of the polar bear populations. On the West Coast this fraction is only a tinny strip of ice and the Canadian catch on this population, which is approximately 3 times larger is regulated by a quota system that takes into account the catches in West Greenland. The present restrictions on the East Coast, especially the ban on the use of snowmobiles are likely to limit the range of the hunters and, thereby, the number of bears they can access. The ban on shooting mothers with cubs is also likely to save some bears; the ban on killing females during the summer is probably less important. This only concerns the few bears that have survived the spring hunt in the area. These bears are likely to be killed during the fall anyway, due to the increased number of small, fast boats. These boats, with a strong hull and lots of horsepower, can travel through new ice and have increased the range of the hunters substantially during the short days in fall. This has resulted in an increase in the number of kills for most game during this season. A higher fraction of bears are now caught in August and September, but the total number of bears killed has not increased nor have the boats increased the overall range of the hunters, which is largest in winter. The demographical composition of the killed bears There are significantly more old bears (10+ years) in the samples from Ittoqqortoormiit than in the samples from Avanersuaq and the fraction of young bears in Southwest Greenland is also significantly higher than in Ittoqqortoormiit. There are probably many reasons for these differences, but one im- 24 portant factor might be the distance from the summer habitat, which is the center for the seasonal pulse of dispersion. The bears that are killed in Northwest Greenland have their summer area near the East Canadian Coast, from where a yearly migration of bears to and from Greenland takes place. The bears that come to Greenland from Canada have to actively walk the distance and it is likely that old bears prefer a more stationary life in more stable and predictable ice conditions. For the bears that end up in Southwest Greenland, the migration has been north – south directed and these bears are also caught at the edge of the habitat. Acknowledgements This paper became a reality only with the help of Erik Born, who took the initiative to start both the sampling program and the interview survey, from which many of the data originate. Thanks to Koos Boomsma and Mads Forchhammer for valuable comments to the paper and to Sylvia Mathiasen, who corrected my insufficient English. Finally special thanks to all the hunters who participated in the sampling program or with great hospitality shared their knowledge about the polar bear and the polar bear hunt during the interview survey. 25 Anon., 1954-87. 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Sea Hunting Statistics for Greenland 1993 and 1994, According to a New System of Collecting Information, compared to the Previous List-ofGame. NAFO SCR Doc. 95/49, Serial No. N2560 (13 pages; 8 Tables; 4 Figures). Petersen, A., 1931. Fortgesetzte Beitrage zur Kenntnis der saugertierund vogelfauna der Östkuste Grönlands. Meddr Grønland 77 (5): 344-506. Reference Rosing-Asvid, A. & E.W. Born, 1990. Fangst af isbjørn (Ursus maritimus) i Avanersuaq og Upernavik kommuner: en interviewundersøgelse. With english summary. Teknisk rapport – Grønlands Hjemmestyre, Miljøog Naturforvaltning. Rapport nr. 23 – december 1990: 64 pp. Sandell, H. & B. Sandell, 1996. Polar bear hunting and hunters in Ittoqqortoormiit/Scoresbysund, NE Greenland. Arctic Anthropology Vol. 33, 2: 77-93. Sandell, H.T., B. Sandell, E.W. Born, R. Dietz & C. Sonne-Hansen, 2001. Isbjørne i Østgrønland. En interviewundersøgelse om forekomst og fangst, 1999. Teknisk rapport nr. 40, Pinngortitaleriffik, Grønlands Naturinstitut. 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