Greenland is home to some 56,000 people. The largest group are the Kalullit, relatives of the Inuit peoples of northern Canada, Alaska andChukotka in Russia. At their closest, Canada and Greenland are separated by just 26 kin of water. Immediately west of Greenland, on Baffin Island, live about 7,000 Canadian Inuit, while another 10,000 live in adjacent areas of the Canadian Eastern Arctic.
Since prehistoric times, the hunting of marine mammals has been central to the livelihoods of the indigenous peoples of Greenland and Canada. Archaeological evidence from 4,500 BC and before indicates ancient hunting societies that depended primarily on seals and whales for survival. The Thule Inuit, ancestors of today's Greenlandic and Canadian Inuit, developed highly specialised tools and technique%, including kayaks and togglehead harpoons, to take their food from the sea.
Click the photo for a larger version.
The Inuit five in an ever-changing world, where the influences of the global economy are increasingly felt. in this new world, ancient Inuit traditions co-exist with industrial fisheries, global communications, and changing cultural practices.
INUIT WHALING HISTORY
Before Europeans began hunting large whales along Greenland's west coast and in the Canadian Eastern Arctic, Inuit hunters took bowhead whales (-Greenland right whales.) and other whale species for food and raw materials such -as baleen and bone. Whale products, and in particular baleen, were part of a flourishing and extensive exchange economy throughout West Greenland, and local belie& emphasised the importance of showing proper respect for whales to ensure a safe and successful hunt.But in the 17th and 18th centuries, European whalers pushed the bowhead to the brink of extinction, and colonial settlers severely undermined Inuit beliefs and whaling practices. For a while during this period, local hunters were employed by a Danish trading monopoly to catch whales, while their own whaling practices persisted only in few places, in some cases for large whales but mostly for smaller cetaceans. in the Canadian Eastern Arctic also, the mid-19th century saw European whalers employing many Inuit in their commercial whaling operations. With their new whaling equipment and the decimation of the bowhead populations, these Europeans were responsible for profound changes in the traditional hunt. Once the commercial bowhead fishery ended, commercial hunts for the smaller beluga were carried out by trading companies. These operations continued until the mid-20th century, with skins and blubber being exported to Europe.
In the first half of the 20th century, Danish authorities oversaw whaling in West Greenland using a large catcherboat equipped with a harpoon cannon. Whales were towed to communities where locals flensed them in exchange for meat and mattak the whale skin, while the blubber was sent to Denmark to cover operating costs.
INUIT WHALING TODAY
After World War II, Greenlanders began catching minke and fin whales for themselves using smaller fishing vessels and harpoon cannons. This hunt, which continues today, is opportunistic, with most of the season being spent catching shrimp, fish or other marine mammals. By law, hunters catching whales with fishing vessels and harpoon cannons must use a special type of grenade with a penthrite charge, designed to kill the animal as quickly as possible. For fin and minke whales, the total quota is set by the International Whaling Commission (TWO under the aboriginal subsistence whaling scheme, and then divided between the various communities by the Greenland authorities.Hunters in communities without access to fishing vessels and harpoon cannons are permitted to take minke whales from skiffs, using rifles and hand-held harpoons. This is a collective hunt, and enables inhabitants of even the smallest and most remote communities to obtain whale meat and mattak Beluga, narwhal and other small cetaceans are typically taken from either skiffs or kayaks, or may be harpooned from the ice edge or caught in nets.
In the Canadian Arctic, meanwhile, whaling is almost exclusively for beluga and narwhal, which are taken from small skiffs or canoes or as they swim along the ice-edge in spring. A limited hunt of howhead whales has recently been revived in both the eastern and western Canadian Arctic under the Nunavut and Inuvialuit land claims agreements. These agreements ensure Inuit communities in these regions constitutionally protected access to local resources, and full participation in their management and conservation through co-management bodies.
Throughout Greenland and the Canadian Arctic, whaling is community-based and an integral part of a Mixed subsistence/cash economy. Besides providing an important source of animalprotein, the baleen, bone and teeth may be used for equipment or for traditional art. Whale products are shared widely within families and communities reinforcing the kinship and communityties upon which indigenous culturalpractices and beliefs are built.
The cash component in Greenland involves the sale of meat and mattak for local consumption. In smaller communities, these products can often be bought fresh at the dockside, but they are also distributed for sale around Greenland. This exchange provides hunters with the cash needed in contemporary northern economies. The sale of whale products is monitored and regulated by government authorities, and all hunters who participate in this exchange must be licensed.
(Photo: A successful hunt: A fishing vessel from Greenland with a minke whale alongside)
In the Canadian Arctic, meanwhile, whale products are mainly distributed through extended family networks. In some localities retail stores stock mattak, and efforts to encourage inter-settlement trade in all products derived from hunts are encouraged by the government, which also closely monitors limited domestic exports from the Arctic.
Recent concern over the apparent decline of the Baffin Bay beluga stock has led authorities in Greenland to introduce a general ban on drive hunts for belugas, as well as on the sale of beluga caught from boats larger than 25 gross registered tons.
Resource management authorities in Greenland and Canada are promoting effective management of whaling by encouraging the integration of indigenous knowledge and Western science. Greenland's Home Rule Government is an active participant in the IWC (through the Danish Government), the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), and, together with Canada, in the Canada-Greenland joint Commission on the Conservation and Management of Beluga and Narwhal. Canada has observer status in both the IWC and NAMMCO, and contributes to the scientific work of both organisations.
INUIT SEALING
Greenlanders and Canadian Inuit today use five species of seal the ringed seat, harp seal, hooded seal, bearded seal and harbour seal. Ringed seals and harp seals represent by far the largest portion of catches in Greenland today whilst ringed and bearded seals are the principal quarries in Canada.Sealing has long been a central part of Inuit life. Until the early 20th century, Inuit families would commonly load up their skinboats and journey out from protected fjords to favourable hunting grounds. In summer, they would take to the open waters, whilst in the dark season they would wait patiently, sometimes for hours, to harpoon seals at allut, or breathing holes, in the sea ice. Or if ice conditions allowed, they could creep up on their quarry concealed by a small blind. Successful hunts under such conditions required extraordinary preparation, skill and patience. Hunters' wives were skilled at processing seals, and used the meat, blubber and skin for many purposes - from food and clothing to lighting and heat. Products of the hunt were widely shared within communities.
The hunt has changed little today. Although harpoons are now supplemented by modern technologies such as rifles and radios, skill, patience and detailed knowledge are still vital to the success of a hunt. In summer, seals are typically shot from skiffs or kayaks, while in the dark season they will be caught in open leads, at breathing holes, or by placing nets beneath the ice. In southern Greenland, sealing often takes place in conjunction with commercial fishing, whilst in North and East Greenland, and in many Canadian Eastern Arctic commumties sealing continues to be a major activity year-round.
Seal meat is a staple food in the diet. In the Greenlandic and Canadian Inuit language, the word for meat (negi) almost invariably refers to seal meat unless some other animal is specified. The meat is eaten raw, boiled, dried or frozen, while the blubber, oil and organs are also widely consumed. Seal skins are used to provide winter clothing, or may be sold to Great Greenland A/S (the government-owned tannery in Qaqortoq), as well as community-based skin sewing workshops or, in Canada, to local co-operatives and traders.
The sale of seal skins is an important part of the economy in contemporary Greenlandic communities, providing cash for hunters to buy fuel, hunting equipment, and a variety of imported foods and other items. Even in communities where the economy is dominated by commercial fisheries, the sale of seal skins provides an important supplement to family incomes, particularly in winter or when fishing quotas have been filled
The Great Greenland tannery pays up to about US$80 (475DKK) for skins of the highest quality to produce a line of coats, jackets and waistcoats that are both fashionable and functional. Both the price paid to hunters, and the production process itself have been heavily subsidised by the Home Rule Government to compensate for the harm caused by the antisealing campaigns of the 1970s and '80s, which, although not aimed at Inuit sealing, devastated international markets for all seal products.
While seal products provide important nutritional and economic benefits, sealing also continues to play an important role in many aspects of Inuit culture, and is reflected in the rich vocabulary for different species, varieties and characteristics of seals. Sealing provides the context in which ancient Inuit traditions about hunting, and the ecological knowledge associated with this, are most fully expressed and transmitted down through the generations.
The Greenland Home Rule Goverment is currently striving to establish export markets for seal meat in China and Japan, and as tourism expands into the Arctic, hand-made seal products could become a valuable source of income and a means of perpetuating indigenous art forms and crafts. For these goals to be achieved, however, it is necessary for people outside of the High North to recognise the continuing importance of marine living resources as the basis for these economics and cultures, now and in the future, As marine mammals are a predominant component of the marine ecosystem in Arctic regions, any development based on the rational utilisation of local resources must necessarily involve the use of marine mammals.
