{"id":871789,"date":"2026-08-26T06:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T06:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/871789\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T06:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T06:06:14","slug":"its-a-feast-dozens-share-in-iqaluit-bowhead-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/871789\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s a feast\u2019: Dozens share in Iqaluit bowhead harvest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This story was updated on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 4:35 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Community members gathered at Iqaluit\u2019s breakwater at high tide on Monday afternoon to divvy up piles of maktaaq from hunters who, this past weekend, <a href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/stories\/article\/iqaluit-hunters-prepare-to-net-bowhead-whale\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">harvested<\/a> their first bowhead in four years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-271828\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-271828\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_2383-400x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-271828\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Suvega divvies up maktaaq to hand out on the Iqaluit breakwater on Monday afternoon. (Photo by Daron Letts)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt\u2019s a feast,\u201d said Sevanoosie Boaz, who was on site to pick up a bag of bowhead meat. \u201cIt means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">More than two dozen men and women with the Amaruq Hunters and Trappers Association embarked on the hunt Aug. 16, which involved seven boats each with a four-person crew.<\/p>\n<p>The pursuit lasted one week.<\/p>\n<p>The hunters harpooned their bowhead on Friday afternoon, said Pitseolak Alainga, who observed from his canoe approximately 75 metres away.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/ads\/260821-pspc\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"373\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/260821.100.95.png\" class=\"no-lazy-load wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They harpooned the whale twice more to affix floats, then a fourth harpoon equipped with an explosive charge pierced the animal behind the blowhole and above the brain, Alainga said.<\/p>\n<p>The whole process took about an hour.<\/p>\n<p>Alainga has participated in or observed all four bowhead hunts in the city since the Department of Fisheries and Oceans <a href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/stories\/article\/65674nunavut_rejoices_over_iqaluit_bowhead_catch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">reintroduced<\/a> bowhead quotas in 2009. There had been a century-long ban on hunting the marine mammal since the whaling industry almost hunted bowheads to extinction.<\/p>\n<p>Iqaluit\u2019s hunters association has co-ordinated hunts in 2011, 2018, 2022 and this year.<\/p>\n<p>Five hunters stood on the whale\u2019s back before towing it to Qaumarviit Island, approximately 12 kilometres west of Iqaluit, where they butchered their catch.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers distributed maktaaq at the causeway on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, more was distributed at Iqaluit\u2019s breakwater.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/ads\/260626-legislative-assembly\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"373\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/A-14783.94.gif\" class=\"no-lazy-load wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Johnny Shoo Sagiatook was among those who helped offload the metres-long slabs from Mathew Alainga\u2019s boat, while Daniel Nuyalia and Paul Suvega carved up portions for families.<\/p>\n<p>Neither men hunted this year\u2019s bowhead, but Nuyalia lanced a bowhead in 2018 and Suvega has participated in the 2022 hunt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feeds a lot of people so they won\u2019t go hungry,\u201d said Nuyalia. \u201cWe see happy faces. We see people together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre distributed maktaaq Monday and planned give out more Wednesday but ran out, according to executive director Joseph Murdoch-Flowers.<\/p>\n<p>The hunt cost an estimated $120,000 for equipment, payment to crew, food and fuel.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/ads\/2025-nbcc_annual\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"373\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026_annual_NBCC.png\" class=\"no-lazy-load wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The City of Iqaluit chipped in $10,000 and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Qikiqtani Inuit Association, and Baffin Fisheries Coalition covered the rest.<\/p>\n<p>Update: This article has been updated to reflect that the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre planned to distribute maktaaq Wednesday, but that it has run out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was updated on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 4:35 p.m. ET. Community members gathered at Iqaluit\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-871789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}