Proceedings of the Fifth North American Caribou Workshop Joint management inaction - George River caribou herd Chesley Andersen and Judy Rowell Labrador Inuit Association, Box 70, Nain, Labrador, Canada, AOP 1L0. Keywords: George River caribou herd, Labrador Inuit Association, explotation of land RangiSer, Special Issue No. 7: 67—72 Introduction The George River caribou herd This paper is not a scientific presentation of The George River caribou herd is most likely data on the George River caribou herd. Nor is the largest caribou herd in the world. These ca• it a scientific interpretation of the status of the ribou, generally considered to be barren ground herd. This paper is about a major caribou herd caribou, range throughout the entire Labrador/- that may be in trouble and the belief of the Ungava Peninsula which is split into the two Labrador Inuit Association (LIA) that the big• political jurisdictions of Quebec and Newfound• gest current threat to the health of the herd land. may be the management policies of govern• The caribou spend most of the winter spread ments. across the barrens of Northern Quebec as far Our experience and knowledge of the herd west and north as the coast of Hudson's Bay. combined with the data collected by biologists Migration eastward begins when the females over the years suggest to us that the George Ri• start to move in early March if conditions per• ver herd may be at risk. We are not interested mit. Females reach the main calving grounds in in getting involved in the techincal and someti• the upland tundra area in the height of land be• mes academic arguments about census techni• tween Quebec and Labrador at the end of May ques, confidence levels and theories of popula• or early June. Throughout the summer the ani• tion dynamics. We are primarily concerned mals disperse and are found along the north about the information base that is used by go• coast of Labrador and north to Ungava Bay. In vernment managers and the politics that conti• late summer and early fall the caribou head nue to influence management policies. west again for their winter range. The Labrador Inuit are watching with real One of the most impressive things about the concern as the governments of Quebec and annual migration of the George River caribou Newfoundland deny some of the indicators sug• herd is the distance that is covered. A satellite gesting the George River herd may be in trou• collar deployed on an animal captured near He• ble and proceed to manage it in isolation from bron on the coast of Labrador can later put out its biophysical realities and in defiance of prin• a signal from the Caniapiscau River. The herd ciples of conservation. lately has been shifting and while the general In this paper we will highlight what LIA con• east/west migration pattern is constant we see siders to be the essence of what Labrador Inuit changes in migration patterns and behaviour. In know about the herd as it should affect man• 1990 the caribou did not come into Labrador agement policies for the George River herd. We until mid-May. This was the first time this had will also point out what we believe to be some happend in living memory. of the major external threats to the herd and There are a number of aboriginal peoples li• focus on the absence of a joint management re• ving in the Labrador/Ungava Peninsula whose gime and the complete lack of political will on culture, economy and society are tied to the the part of Quebec and Newfoundland to work George River herd. In Labrador the herd is co-operatively. hunted by the Labrador Inuit who live along Rangif er, Special Issue No. 7, 1991 67 the coast of Labrador and the Naskapi/Montag- would be given first to the subsistence hunt, se• nais Innu. Labrador Inuit will sometimes travel cond to the commercial hunt, and last to the west of the George River in search of caribou sports hunt. Caribou numbers have not gone for their families. low enough to test that assurance. In Quebec the Inuit, Naskapi and Cree all There is no management arrangement in traditionally and currently hunt the George Ri• Newfoundland that provides for co-operation ver caribou. In addition to the Quebec aborigi• with aboriginal users. There is no effort on the nal users there is a very significant sports hunt. part of the Newfoundland government to soli• The land claims of the Cree and the Inuit of cit the participation of the Labrador Inuit or Quebec have been settled and their rights are Innu with respect to management decisions. set out in the James Bay and Northern Quebec The LIA operates a commercial caribou hunt Agreement (JBNQA). The claims of the Naska• through its economic arm - the Labrador Inuit pi of Schefferville have also been settled and Development Corporation taking an average of their rights are set out in the North Eastern about 500 animals per year so far. Quebec Agreement (NEQA). Under the JBNQA and the NEQA the rights What we know about the herd of the Quebec Inuti, Cree and Naskapis to take We know that the George River herd is large levels of caribou sufficient to meet their needs and is likely the largest caribou herd in the are guaranteed. These agreements also guarantee world. We know that the herd is no longer in• a management body known as the James Bay creasing. We suspect that it has been decreasing Hunting Trapping Fishing Coordinating Com• at a rate of about 7-9% per year for the past mittee. While this is an advisor committee to few years. Evidence from the past few years the Minister Responsible for Wildlife it is a also suggest that the caribou coming off the cooperative management arrangement with re• summer range are in very poor nutritional state presentation from all three arboriginal parties, and some animals have started to death. the Quebec government and the government of The main calving grounds used by the Geor• Canada. A specific provision in the agreements ge River animals have been used consistently allows the Coordinating Committee to establish over the past 20-30 years and preliminary work the upper limit of kill for caribou subject to indicates that the calving grounds are almost the principle of conservation which is defined bare of forage. There is some intermingling of in the JBNQA as follows: descrete herds with the George River herd espe• «Conservation means the pursuit for the opti• cially where the Leaf River and George River mum natural productivity of all living resources caribou share the same winter and rutting rang• and the protection of the ecological systems of es. The range of the George River herd in the the territory so as to protect endangered species winter sometimes extends to include range that and to ensure primarily the continuance of the is used by more southern woodland herds. traditional pursuits of the Native people, and secondarily the satisfaction of the needs of non- What we do not know about the George Native people for sport hunting and fishing». River herd? The sports hunt kill in Quebec takes almost We do not have a population estimate of the as much as the subsistence hunt. Recent figures George River herd that is accepted equally by put the Quebec kill by sports hunters at 9,000 government managers, government biologists animals and the subsistence kill at 10,000 ani• and arboriginal users. Population estimates for mals. It is a very different situation on the Lab• the George River herd now range from 150,000 rador side. There are no land claims agreements to 680,000. The governments of Newfoundland with the Inuit or the Innu. The LIA has only and Quebec appear to be basing their manage• just started negotiations towards settling its out• ment policies on the high estimate of 680,000. standing claims. The Innu are not yet at the ta• Biologists for Quebec and Labrador believe the ble. There are no formal arrangements with count is lower. Newfoundland that provide any guarantee or We are seeing changes in migration routes form of protection for priority allocations for and patterns of the George River herd but we aboriginal people in Labrador. All that LIA has don't know what precipitates them. There are is a reassurance from a Minister responsible for som theories and speculation only. We know Wildlife in a previous government that priority that certain environmental factors especially ice 68 Rangifer, Special Issue No. 7, 1991 and snow in the winter and insect harassment about the effect of such activities on the health in the summer can influence cariobu behaviour and behaviour of the George River caribou and migration. However we don't really under• herd or on its habitat. stand what factors are at work. For instance we Current plans of Hydro Quebec involving do not know why the caribou ' did not show the La Grande and the Great Whale Rivers in up' in Labrador in 1990. We do not know the western Quebec potentially threaten important impact of wolf predation on the caribou nor do habitat used by the George River caribou. Both vi know very much about the quantity , qual• river systems, and particularly the Great Whale ity and nutritional levels of the vegetation thro• in the area of Lac Bienville, have been docu• ughout the George River herd's range. mented as having become a prime and/or pre• What we have just outlined is a simplistic and ferred winter range for a portion of the George incomplete overview of what we know and River caribou herd.