Nunavut sets a harvest limit on Bluenose East caribou herd

Nunavut's Department of Environment has announced a total allowable harvest limit for the Bluenose East caribou herd.

A maximum of 340 caribou may be harvested from the herd within Nunavut. The government says hunters should get a tag from the Kugluktuk wildlife office before they hunt to prove that they have an allocation from the TAH.

The Bluenose East herd, which ranges in N.W.T. and Nunavut, was estimated at between 35,000 and 40,000 animals in 2015, down from 104,000 animals in 2000.

The quota is the first ever imposed for the Bluenose East herd in Nunavut.

Larry Adjun, chair of theKugluktukHunters and Trappers Organization, says given the herd's dwindling numbers, "there is no alternative" but to put in a tag system.

The decision follows a consultationprocess, during which the Nunavut government suggested a quota of 340 bulls.

The N.W.T. government's management proposal for the herd last year had suggested an annual total allowable harvest of 950 bull caribou divided between Indigenous groups in the N.W.T. and Nunavut, with 339 animals allocated to Nunavut.