Éléments à considérer pour un nouveau système de gestion du narval : durabilité du narval au nord et à l'est de l'île de Baffin

Abstract

The Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board (QWB) submitted a Request for Decision to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) in June 2020 and March 2022. They proposed an evidence-based modification to the existing management system for the Baffin Bay narwhal (Monodon monoceros). The NWMB acknowledged concerns that the assumptions used to determine the narwhal stock boundaries and the harvest allocation model used to inform the 2013 Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP) do not reflect Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ), specifically narwhal movement patterns. The NWMB called on co-management partners to consider the evidence about narwhal stock definitions presented by the QWB while revising the narwhal IFMP. In order to revise the IFMP in a manner that addresses these concerns, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science advice is requested regarding new information to support narwhal stock delineation, and assessing the risks of managing the Baffin Bay narwhal population based on combining different narwhal stocks with and without seasonal harvesting windows. The results from this meeting will contribute to future revisions to the IFMP for narwhal in the Nunavut Settlement Area. The objectives of this peer review will be to provide Science advice on the sustainability of Baffin Bay narwhal by: 1. Reviewing assumptions and currently available scientific evidence related to stock delineation; 2. Conduct a risk assessment for each of the scenarios listed below to inform sustainability: a) Four independent stocks (East Baffin Island [EBI], Eclipse Sound [ES], Admiralty Inlet [AI], and Somerset Island [SI]): An updated version of the 2011 Harvest Allocation Model (HAM) (Richard 2011) based on the latest scientific knowledge (including narwhal movements between management units as described in DFO 2020), both with (1A) and without (1B) separate seasons. b) Three separate management units without summer and migratory seasons: i) combined EBI and ES, ii) AI, and iii) SI stocks. c) Three separate management units without summer and migratory seasons: i) combined ES and AI, ii) EBI, and iii) SI stocks. d) Two separate management units without summer and migratory seasons: i) combined EBI, ES and AI, and ii) SI stocks. e) A single management unit comprised of the EB, ES, AI and SI stocks without summer and migratory seasons. f) Sustainability of the current harvest in ES without summer and migratory seasons. g) The maximum sustainable harvest that could be allocated to any hunting region in Baffin Bay. 3. Identifying uncertainties, challenges, and limitations to the risk assessment. This Science Response Report results from the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) regional peer review held on January 14, 2025, on the Considerations for a New Management System: Sustainability of Narwhal in Northern and Eastern Baffin Island.