Nunavut hunting outfitters struggle from U.S. ban on polar bear trophies
Outfitters who guide tourists on hunting trips in Nunavut say they are feeling the impact of a U.S. ban on polar bear trophies that was imposed earlier this year.
The United States introduced the import ban on bear trophies, hides and parts in May, after it named the polar bear a threatened species under its Endangered Species Act.
The move was decried by Inuit outfitters in Nunavut, who have profited from offering hunting tourism packages to Americans who want to hunt polar bears in Canada's Arctic.
Nathaniel Kalluk, an outfitter in Resolute Bay, said he's been forced to cut package prices from $32,000 US to about $25,000 US in a bid to attract hunters.
A few Americans with businesses in Canada where they could offload bear hides and parts are still coming to Nunavut, but Kalluk said he's now courting hunters in Europe.
"We are trying to go to Europe now, looking for hunters, but it's new over there," he told CBC News.
"We're going to have a hard time finding some hunters over there in the beginning, but maybe a little bit later on, it might be okay."
Kalluk said that by this time of year, he usually would have sold all of his polar bear sport-hunt packages to American hunters.
But since the U.S. import ban was introduced, Kalluk said only five of the 20 polar-bear hunting tags allotted to him have been sold, with the hunt slated to take place in the spring.
As a result, Kalluk said, he may also have to let some staff go.
"I got five people that are working for me and their helpers. That's 10 people, usually," he said.
Environmental groups lobbied to have the polar bear listed as an threatened species in the United States, in part to force the U.S. government to act to lower greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for global warming.
But last week, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced changes to the country's endangered species regulations that bar federal agencies from assessing the impact of greenhouse emissions on species and their habitats.
The Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups are now taking the U.S. government to court over the move.
"The polar bear was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act with the primary threat — really, the only threat — being melting of summer sea ice caused by global warming which is caused by greenhouse gas emissions. So there's a well-known connection," said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director with the the Center for Biological Diversity.
Greenwald's group is calling on incoming U.S. president Barack Obama to reverse the rule once he is sworn into office next month.