 investigated harvesting technologies while Remnant and Thomas (1992), Thomsen (1993) and Stewart et al. (1995) have investigated features of the traditional ecological knowledge of modern narwhal hunting. As much as these works contribute to our understanding of the Inuit and narwhal relationship, none provide a comprehensive analysis of contemporary narwhal hunting behaviour.
The main objective of this paper is to redress this gap by employing a behavioural ecology approach to study the Inuit floe-edge narwhal hunt. An analysis of Inuit hunting strategies is critical to understand the organization and pattern of Inuit hunting behaviour with respect to the prey species and the environment. In the present study, we specifically focus on one of the most important components of the Inuit narwhal hunt during the spring floe-edge season: the foraging or search phase (see Table 1). We believe this stage to be crucial for the overall foraging cycle as it is time-consuming, precarious and is most influential in the successful capture of a narwhal.
A second objective is to examine whether the foraging mode currently used at the floe-edge to hunt narwhal in the spring is specific to this species and environment or represents a widespread strategy. Hunting processes for other species such as caribou hunting, winter breathing hole sealing, and spring basking seal hunting will be compared to narwhal hunting to present the variation in foraging mode. Winter and spring sealing represent two harvest activities that might be considered to “compete” with whaling at this season. Finally, it is important to mention that no comparison will be made here between floe-edge and open-water narwhal modes of foraging as this is the subject of a future paper (Lee, in preparation).
Next, we review the relationship between Pond Inlet Inuit and narwhals to illustrate the contemporary pattern and importance of Inuit narwhal harvesting. We will also review the human behavioural ecology framework as it will be the basis of our present analysis of Inuit narwhal hunting behaviour.
Pond Inlet, narwhals and Inuit
Narwhals and their products have widespread cultural importance for Inuit. The skin (maktaaq), with some attached fat (uqsuq), is the most important food item furnished by narwhal hunting and is often considered a delicacy (Reeves 1992; personal observations). Historically, the narwhal also provided raw materials for domestic use, such as dried sinews for waterproof seams. However, it was the species’ ivory tusk that was the principal object of late 19th and early 20th centuries trade between Inuit and Europeans (Bernier 1909, 1911).
The narwhal is found today in the open water environment of the Eastern Canadian Arctic from early May to late September. The narwhal mainly frequents northwestern Baffin Bay, Lancaster and Jones Sounds, western Foxe Basin, and eastern Barrow Strait (Kingsley et al. 1994; Koski and Davis 1994; Reeves 1992; Richard et al. 1994; Silverman 1979; Smith et al. 1985, Strong 1988). Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik) is the northernmost community on Baffin Island located at 72°41”N, 77°58”W, and is adjacent to the Baffin Bay-Pond Inlet floe-edge (Figure 1). This location was selected for the present study because of its large annual narwhal quota of 100 animals. The area of Inuit-narwhal interaction of direct interest here is the Pond Inlet spring floe-edge (Figure 2). This floe-edge represents a primary habitat that has long provided Mittimatalingmiut (Pond Inlet Inuit) with access to northward migrating narwhals (Kingsley et al. 1994; Koski and Davis 1994; Reeves 1992; Richard et al. 1994; Silverman 1979).
Although the archaeological record is intermittent, it seems that narwhals have been hunted in this region for some two millennia (Savelle 1994). More specifically, it is clear that Mittimatalingmiut have possessed the technology, expertise and ecological knowledge to hunt this species intensively since at least the early 19th century (Mary-Rousselière 1984). Their unique skill developed as a result of their geographic situation (Fi