Deline, N.W.T., hunters agree to end caribou hunt for the season

Hunters in Deline, N.W.T., are being asked not to hunt any more Bluenose East caribou this season, now that the community's self-imposed limit of 150 animals has been harvested.

In anewsrelease issued Tuesday, the Deline First Nation, the DelineLand Corporation, and the Renewable Resources Council saidhunters hadagreed to end the hunt for the season.

The groups are asking community members not to hunt on the east side of Keith Arm on Great Bear Lake. No-hunting signs will be posted.

The limit was called for underDeline'scariboumanagement plan, translated in English as 'caribou for all time,'which it has submittedto the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board.

That plan regulates caribou conservation inDenetraditional ways.The plan also calls forenforcementof the policy by agroup of elders.

The N.W.T.Department of Environment and Natural Resources also has amanagement plan that calls for a harvest limit of163 animals for the entire Sahtu region.

According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Bluenose-East herd has declined from about 68,000 caribou in 2013 to between 35,000 and 40,000 in 2015.

The Sahtu board will consider both management plans at hearings scheduled forMarch 1-3 in the community.