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F. SALOMONSEN 



The borderline between the high arctic and 

 low arctic zones is situated in Melville Bay on 

 the west coast, and just south of Scoresby 

 Sound on the east coast; the innermost parts 

 of Scoresby Sound belong to the low arctic 

 zone. 



In the low arctic Pacific region the number 

 of seabirds is said to be about 51 million in 

 summer and 8 million in winter (Sowl and 

 Bartonek 1974). No similar estimate is avail- 

 able for low arctic West Greenland, but I sug- 

 gest that it is much lower in summer and 

 slightly higher in winter. 



The human population of Greenland, now 

 numbering about 50,000 individuals, is re- 

 stricted to the seashore, where all cities and 

 minor outposts are situated. Although shoot- 

 ing seabirds is an ancient tradition in Green- 

 land, the true landbirds, which are few in num- 

 ber, are usually left alone. Seabirds collected 

 by shooting provide an important source of 

 food that the Greenlanders could not do with- 

 out. Since special shooting and hunting regu- 

 lations have not been developed in Greenland, 

 these activities often resemble a sort of 

 slaughter rather than true hunting. There is 

 no game act in Greenland, and practically all 

 birds can be shot. This condition is similar to 

 that in Canada, where according to Section 

 5(7) of the Migratory Birds Regulations 

 (Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa 1973) "an 

 Indian or Inuk may at any time, without a 

 permit, take auks, auklets, guillemots, 

 murres, puffins and scoters and their eggs for 

 human food and clothing." Much the same 

 sort of hunting privileges exist for native 

 peoples of Alaska. What is still worse, how- 

 ever, is the enormous illegal shooting of 

 ducks, geese, swans, and cranes that is known 

 to take place in arctic North America, but is 

 largely ignored by police and game authori- 

 ties. Bartonek et al. (1971) described this 

 situation very well for Alaska. In Greenland, 

 it is not possible any more to distinguish be- 

 tween "native Eskimos" and Greenlanders 

 (including Danes working in the country), but 

 the attitude toward animals among the in- 

 habitants is the same as it has always been a 

 food source to hunt and kill. 



With a rapidly growing human population, 

 and a readily available supply of guns and 

 speedboats for hunting, the whole natural eco- 



system is beginning to break down, and it can- 

 not be permitted to continue. The provincial 

 government is aware of this fact, and various 

 legal enactments have been issued from both 

 the government and the local magistrates. 

 However, since the size of the police force 

 (mostly Greenlanders) is small, it is of little 

 help for the preservation of wildlife, and some- 

 times even the policemen themselves do not 

 know the local ordinances. The result has been 

 that seabirds, previously profusely flourish- 

 ing, have considerably decreased in number in 

 West Greenland. 



I have previously described the shooting 

 and hunting of seabirds in Greenland and the 

 statutory provisions issued to protect them 

 (see Salomonsen 1970). At present, the follow- 

 ing seabirds and their eggs are totally pro- 

 tected: whooper swan; common puffin, Frater- 

 cula arctica; and harlequin duck, Histrionicus 

 histrionicus. Some other species have a closed 

 season or are protected in certain parts of the 

 country: snow goose, Anser caerulescens; 

 common eider; king eider, Somateria spectabi- 

 lis; great cormorant; dovekie, Plautus alle; 

 black guillemot; and thick-billed murre, Uria 

 lomvia. Furthermore, all catching and hunt- 

 ing of birds within 2 km of breeding colonies 

 of murres and kittiwakes is prohibited. Bird 

 sanctuaries where hunting, catching, and col- 

 lecting of eggs and down are prohibited are 

 Avsigsut, Nunatsiaq, and Satuarssunguit is- 

 lands, which are scattered in Disko Bay, and 

 Tasiussarssuaq Fjord (the inner part of Arfer- 

 siorfik Fjord, south of Egedesminde). 



However, the Greenland Provincial Council 

 has been alarmed by the serious decline in the 

 numbers of seabirds due to increases in 

 human persecution, and it has decided to in- 

 troduce a game law similar to those in Den- 

 mark and other European countries. The prep- 

 aration of this legislation was left to me, and a 

 draft of this Greenland game act has been 

 issued (Salomonsen 1974); the new law was 

 passed in parliament in 1977 and went into 

 force on 1 January 1978. 



It is not possible to review in detail the dif- 

 ferent parts of the new law, but certain impor- 

 tant points should be mentioned. In northern 

 parts of West Greenland (north of Egedes- 

 minde) the sea is ice-covered for 7-8 months a 

 year, and seabird hunting is therefore not pos- 



