The Inuit of Nunavik have always harvested the beluga whale for subsistence purposes; this harvest is of great social, cultural, and economic importance.  In the 1800s, the Hudson Bay Company ran a commercial Whaling post at the mouth of the Great Whale River, simultaneously, decreases in the eastern Hudson Bay beluga summer stock were observed.  By the 1980s, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans began suggesting that the Inuit subsistence harvest was too high for the beluga population to recover.  They implemented a management strategy, including harvest quotas and seasonal and regional closures.  Inuit of Nunavik have very little say in this designed management strategy and strongly recommend changes to the plan.

By December 2006, negotiations led to the signing of the Nunavik Inuit Land Clams Agreement, which created the Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Management Board.  This is a co-management board that allows for management decision-making by both the Federal Government and the Inuit.  This report presents Inuit perspectives on co-management for the eastern Hudson Bay beluga summer stock.