Thursday, 25 March 2010 14:22
Polar bears, it seems, have friends in high places.
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| Photo Jonathan Hayward, THE CANADIAN PRESS |
And while the big white animals are wandering over the shrinking Arctic sea ice looking for seals, some of those friends will be meeting in a far warmer climate - in Doha Qatar the weekend of March 13-25th, 2010.
At issue - should polar bears be considered an endangered species?
It's not an easy question to answer and in fact the issue has created allies between groups you might not normally expect to join together.
Patricia Bell covers circumpolar affairs for CBC ...she's been living in Iqaluit, Nunavut for 11 years.
She joins me the morning from Windsor Ontario...and Patricia these friends of the bears are part of an international group right?
AUDIO SCRIPT:
AMT - Anna Maria Tremonti, host, CBC, the Current
PB - Patricia Bell, CBC circumpolar affairs
***PBell: They are ... the group has the gigantic name: the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora .It's called CITES for short... 175 countries are part of it and they meet every few years to talk about the state of the world's wildlife and plants and make recommendations on how to protect them .. and as you said .. this year polar bears are on the agenda.
AMTremonti: And it's the United States that wants the bears considered an endangered speicies...
***PB: The US wants them moved from what's called Apprendix 2 to appendix 1 ... and that would give the bears international protection..
AMT: And the US is pushing this because of course it has polar bears in alaska
***PB: Yeah .. but the Americans are taking a broader view ...
- they listed polar bears as Threatened under their Endangered Species Act in 2008
- big lobby going on in U.S
- activists groups are pushing for more protection...they feel polar bears are threatened with extinction...
- due to shrinking sea ice... warming climate etc
- basically want to shut down the international trade of polar bears parts
AMT: Does the US have support for its proposal?
- yes, lot of support
- countries of the European Union expected to vote in favour
- power group,,. the Humane Society of the United States (and international branch) are supporting the uplisting
AMT:: That sounds like a fair bit of pressure on Canada ...
***PB: It is ... and there is a Canadian lobby of sorts to counteract that pressure..
BUT THE SITUATION IS FRACTURED IN THIS COUNTRY ... AND IT'S A BIT CONFUSING, SO BEAR WITH ME ...
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS OPPOSED TO WHAT'S CALLED THE UPLISTING OF THE POLAR BEAR .. MOVING IT TO APPENDIX 1 ... BUT
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IMPOSED A BAN ON EXPORTING POLAR BEAR PARTS FROM BAFFIN BAY LATE LAST YEAR ... WHILE THE NUNAVUT GOVERNMENT WAS TRYING TO NEGOTIATE A NEW HUNTING QUOTA WITH OTTAWA ...AND THIS WAS A SIGNIFICANT MOVE ... BUT I'LL COME BACK TO THIS POINT IN A MINUTE ...
AMT: So who are the lobbyists opposing the U.S. proposal in Doha then?
***PB: - from all the regions of the arctic that hunt polar bears in Canada.. they are rallying against a change in the polar bear's designation it (Inuvialuit region in NWT, Nunatsiavut in Labrador, Nunavut, Nunavik etc)
- Nunavut's Environment Minister Daniel Shewchuk says he wrote to all of the remaining 174 countries to provide them with information about hunt
- says they don't have the facts
- have to convince them that they should vote proposition down
AMT: If the US is successful at the CITES meeting starting this weekend .. what would that mean to people in the North?
***PB: - if it goes ahead, it would permanently shut down trade of polar bear parts (so people couldn't sell anything made of polar bears, or their hides etc
- Now Anna Maria... here's the situation the north right now ... many of the bears killed in the Arctic are killed by big game hunters who come north for the hunt
- for small communities where there are no roads, few jobs and a lot of unemployment the sport hunt is a source of income
-they can get 25 to 40 thousand dollars per bear hunted
-also .. they get the meat usually from the sports hunters who just want the hides
AMT: Have you tried polar bear meat?
***PB: (answer) yes...
Now not all communities use their quotas for sport hunts...and those that do, use about a third of it...rest is hunted by community members
- again, for the meat, but they can also make clothing and other things from the hide
- officially CITES secretariat says this so called uplisting wouldn't affect polar bear sport hunt ..
. - but if the polar bear is moved from Appendix 2 to 1, some countries would be hesistant about granting permits for the import of polar bear products ... both the things made locally from the hides ....or the trophies.. the whole hides or heads that hunters from around the world have come there for... and that would drastically alter the number of hunters coming to the north
- but beyond the hunt or the trade... many people in Canada's north don't want listed because they feel pbears aren't endangered...still very healthy populations
AMT: If the populations are healthy though ... why has the Nunavut government cut the hunting quota in Baffin Bay .. That just happened right?
***PB - last friday ... it's a small "p" political decision -let me give you a little background
- in 2005... the polar bear hunting quota increased across most of Nunavut by 26%...cause an uproar among many pbear biologists and activist groups
- in Baffin Bay, area between Nunavut and Greenland ...increased from 64 bears to 105/year
- shortly after it was revealed Greenland hunters were taking up to 200 bears year in the area...
-Now... i said the quota had been increased across MOST of Nunavut ... but there had just been a drastic cut in the quota in Western Hudson Bay... went from 56 to 8 bears
so rasing the limit in one place while cutting it somewhere else didn't seem to make sense
- for last two years...biologists have been trying to bring the quota down in baffin Bay
- two public hearings
- that led to last week's announcement that quota cut by 10 bears a years over the next 4 years to bring it down to 65 bears (almost same hunt level now in place in Greenland for BBay
AMT: Is there a connection between this weekend's meeting of CITES and the timing of the quota cut?
***PB: There is Nunavut's Environment minister Daniel Shewchuk told me that he wanted a decision in on Baffin Bay quota before the meeting in Doha.
and to lift the ban the Federal government placed on the export of all polar bear parts from Baffin Bay which has effectively shut down the sports hunt. Here's Minister Shewchuk
CLIP Shewchuk - lifting Federal ban on export of trophies in Baffin Bay (news conference answering questions)
IN: "we hope that by us taking this action and showing this to Environment Canada, that the action that we are taking in the management of the Baffin Bay polar bear, that we can lift the ban sooner than later on this, we don't know what these conditions are, I am writing a letter at this present time, outlining what action we're taking to minister Prentice so hopefully we are requesting that the action that the action that we are taking will influence his decision on lifting this ban as soon as he can."
AMT: Ok Patricia.. let me get this straight ... on the one hand there's an international movement to ban the trade on polar bear parts by having it declared endangered ... but there is also a Canadian made ban on exporting polar bear trophies as well ... so in effect the people of the north who support the hunt and the trade are fighting on two fronts?
***PB: That's exactly right ... and it's this ban put in place by Ottawa --- while the Environment minister and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board were trying to come to an agreement over the hunting quota that has angered Nunavut's former premier Paul Okalik... here's what he told me.
(Clip 2) Okalik-unilateral .. .upset about Feds shutting down the export of pbear trophies in Baffin Bay
IN: "this issue I raise is unilateral action taken by the Federal government to impose a restriction on the trade of polar bears, it's like a European ban all over again, without information coming forward to justify such a restriction at this time, the Wildlife board was in the process of making a decision along with the minister and the Federal government pre-judged that and ban, we probably lost a year of sport hunting in those communities that were affected and there's no compensation to them on this Federal, unilateral decision and our government didn't do anything to protect their interests, that's troubling." 39s
***PB:- some insiders say it was taking too long for the territorial government and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board to come to a decision to cut the quota...and that's why the Fed gov't moved in
AMT: So let's talk about the hunters then ... they are facing the ban on exports of polar bear parts but also a cut in hunting quotas in the baffin Bay hunting quota... how are they reacting?
***PB: - not good
- hunters feel they have not been listened to, despite two public hearings
- And Nunavut's land claims organisation is not happy... says the decision is based on old data...the last population survey in the area was done over 12 years ago... and then biologists are using models to calculate what the population is now... considering the Greenland overharvest
- some hunters have said in past, they won't respect the reduced quota
But the land claims organisation's wildlife director... Gabriel Nirlungayuk says Inuit are law-abiding citizens and he doesn't think there'll be disobedience... still he says the communities have a reason to be upset .. here's what he told me.
(CLIP 3) Nirlungayuk - frustration (explaining why he doesn't think Inuit will go outside the law and not respect the quota)
IN: "I think it's understandable the communities are really frustrated, not just those communities as well as communities in Western Hudson Bay, last year when the decision was made to reduce the quota from 56 down to 8, people are really frustrated and out of frustration people say things but Inuit are, try and follow rules of the law so I'm confident that they will do so but this is out of frustration and there's a lot of outside pressure, for instance in Doha, Qatar they will be looking at the United States proposal to ban all trade, so it seems like right now, everything is coming down on Inuit so I can understand how Inuit feel"
AMT: And the hunters themselves? what are they saying?
***PB:- I've been to several of the small communities...went up to Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island a couple of years ago to do stories on the Americans going there for sport hunts
- there's not a lot of economic activity
- in that context ... hunters upset
- but it goes beyond that...many Inuit men feel that the harvest of wildlife is one of the last areas that they still control in their lives
- now they're being told that their observations of wildlife....and they're on the land many days... are wrong
Adamie Komoartok is a hunter and MLA for Pangnirtung... he says hunters don't hunt for the money but when food costs so much in the north... wildlife is a big part of the groceries
(CLIP 4) Komoartok- food
IN: "their involvement should have been right from day one to the end of the day when these announcements are made and you know, compensation is a big part of that package as far as I'm concerned because the hunters and the community depend about this resource to in a way make a living and when that is taken away, you got to put something else in place as possible to ensure that the hardship and the money that the communities used to get is replaced with something else" 41s
***PB: And anna maria i think one of the big sticking points is that the hunters still believe the population is not only healthy .. but increasing ...and that's why they are having such a hard time accepting the ban
AMT:
Weren't the hunters right about bowhead whales a few years ago... when the Federal government was saying they were in danger of extinction?
***PB: - yes, and they're holding that up as an example
- Fisheries and Oceans was saying there were a few hundred bowheads left in the eastern arctic ...Inuit hunterss were saying there were lots
- in end, more than 14 000
AMT: So ..let's get back to the meeting this weekend in Qatar ... I asked about the support earlier for the US from other countries.. what about from the Convention of the International Trade in Endangered Species itself?
***PB:- interestingly enough... the Secretariat for CITES is speaking out against the U.S. proposal
- says there's no proof the population has dropped to the point of requiring moving polar bears to the endangered category
Stephen Nash is with the CITES Secretariat .. I managed to reach him by phone from Geneva
(CLIP 5) Nash- why Cites Secretariat is opposed to listing pbear under Appendix 1
IN : "there has to be a marked decrease in the population and we don't believe that the evidence is compelling in that regard...and we are recommending that the proposal be rejected because we do not feel that the precise criteria for including species in Appendix one have been met in this case" 25s
***PB: and here's something else nash told me anna maria ... he says CITES supports sport hunting ... when well managed... says it can actually help with conservation ... take a listen...
(CLIP 6) IN : "these hunts can bring a lot of conservation benefits by bringing in a lot of money to the communities, money to the governments in terms of hunting fees and so on and but throughout is the principle that the actual trophy, the specimen itself will be brought back to the hunter's country for non commercial purpose, essentially it's the personal time and it's not going to be re-sold"
AMT: So CITES is in the Nunavut and NWT camp ...
***PB: And so is TRAFFIC...an international group that keeps on eye on trade in endangered species is opposing United States's proposal
and so is the World Wildlife Fund ...
-it supported the U.S. decision a few years ago to list polar bears as threatened across their range...but now it is opposing the U.S. proposal to declare pbears as endanger of extinction
-so as you said in the introduction ... some odd allegiances have been formed ...
Here's Craig Stewart ... he's the arctic director with WWF Canada (phone interview)
(CLIP 7) Stewart - Doha
IN: "TRAFFIC, an independent organsiation that WWF supports came out with a basically came out with a review of the U.S. proposal and said based on the science there's no reason to uplist polar bears and effect a trade ban at this time, the science just doesn't support it...and WWF feels that climate change far away is the number one issue, not trade with the regard to the future of polar bears and therefore this US proposal is not the best tool to deal with the future of polar bears at this time/;
AMT: So the big issue was and probably always will ber i the number of bears ...
***PB:
-that's right... hunters say they're seeing more bears
- one hunter I talked to last week in Resolute Bay, said fat bears are coming into town
that's why all agree there needs to be a new survey... HERE'S Craig Stewart again ...
(CLIP 8) Stewart - need new survey
IN: "we don't have good population estimates, the data that we're dealing with is at least 11 years old and so the minister doesn't have the best available information that he could have in order to make a decision and this is a problem, the science on polar estimates in Baffin Bay is controversial and really needs to be updated with the imput of course of IQ"
AMT: So will someone upadte the information on the polar bear population in Baffin Bay?
***PB: - Nunavut's Environment minister, in announcing his quota decrease for Baffin Bay said there'll be a new survey with population estimates by 2014
- that means survey would have to start soon ...because it takes 3 years to do surveys
- say it will include Inuit IQ
- many hoping it'll put the question to rest about size of pbear population in Baffin Bay
- pbear population has increased south of Baffin Bay in Davis Strait... so hunters are hoping they'll be proven right
AMT: Until then...there's the big meeting in Doha....
***PB: - yes, and CITES says the United States needs two-thirds of the countries to support its proposal
- that means a lot of lobbying is going to go on in the next two weeks
- numerous people going from Canada
- we tried to get an interview with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on their proposal...to no avail
- also tried to get an interview with someone from Environment Canada ... no success
- sent a written note saying essentially that Canada's management of polar bears is good...there's no reason to move the polars into the endangered category ... and polar bears are not threatened by trade
AMT: But of course this isn't the only wildlife spat going on between Canada and other parts of the world ...
***PB: You're right the European Union banned seal skin products... and Inuit groups are taking the E-U to court over this
AMT: Patricia .. thanks you.
Extro :
Patricia Bell covers circumpolar affairs for the CBC.
She's based in Iqaluit, Nunavut.