POPULATION DYNAMICS AND EXPLOITATION OF SEALS i8i 

 of a region in terms of meat production as : 



0-30 {Nr, Yr. Wr) + 0-30 (iV^,. Y^. W^) (3) 



The results of this analysis for four localities are given in Table I, and 

 suggest, for example, that Pond Inlet and the Belcher Islands may be con- 

 siderably under-settled from the point of view of available resources and 

 that Wakeham Bay cannot depend on seals as its sole resource (considering 

 that the subsistence economy of Cape Dorset appears today fairly sound). 



Another view of the same economies might be gained from the analysis 

 of the availability of seals. A complete statement would integrate over a 

 year the day-by-day expectations of suitable hunting weather, the prob- 

 abihty when relevant that a seal will float, and the expectations of meat 

 from a given day's hunting trip, always presuming that the most productive 

 form of hunting will be pursued on a given date. This comprehensive 

 treatment is not yet possible. For reasons given earher the abundance of the 

 ringed seal in the open-water season is a fair indication of its year-round 

 availability, and the bearded seal is hunted practically only in the summer. 

 Thus we may simplify the presentation here by offering an abstraction 

 based on summer conditions. We may include the parameter of weight 

 (above). Then, where Ir and I^ are the availability indices of ringed and 

 bearded seals, the suitability of an area for hunting might be roughly : 



Ir.Wr + 0'S{h.Wt) (4) 



Since the bearded seal is only hunted in summer, we have reduced its 

 influence to half, somewhat arbitrarily at best. 



The results set out on Table I might be clarified by reducing the figure 

 from Cape Dorset to unity and comparing the rest. Then: 



This means that, for example, the native of Wakeham Bay is about twice as 

 hard put to make a living from seals as is the native from Cape Dorset — 

 which is certainly a good approximation of the actual situation. A complete 

 analysis would bring in the important effects of wind and salinity; data are 

 too few at present, but it is certain that these effects will lower the figure for 

 the Belcher Islands and raise the figure for Pond Inlet relative to Cape 

 Dorset and Wakeham Bay. 



Any solution of the problems of such subsistence economies will be in the 

 very general form common to all such systems. The limits of exploitation 



