Spring migration and subsistence hunting of king and common eiders at Holman, Northwest Territories, 1996-98

A subsistence hunt for elders by Inuvialuit of Holman, Northwest Territorie s, was observed over three spring harvest seasons from 1996 to 1998 to dete rmine rates of crippling loss and to assess the sustainability of the harve st. King elders (Somateria spectabilis) are the dominant waterfowl species harvested. The number of king elders estimated to migrate past Holman in sp ring varied from 40 696 +/- 4461 (95% confidence interval) in 1996 to 70 01 8 +/- 14 356 in 1998, averaging 53 000 per year. Common elders (Somateria m ollissima v-nigra) were much less abundant, varying from 2728 +/- 631 to 60 17 +/- 770 birds, averaging 4400 annually. Peak numbers of king elders move d through the study area in 1-8 days during the second to third week of Jun e in all years, and common elders peaked in 1-8 days during the first to se cond week of June. Strong winds may have hindered migration for a few days. Crippling loss rates during the hunt were low (3-9%) in the first two year s of the study, but increased to 13-20% in the early open-water spring of 1 998, when hunters were forced to shoot over open water rather than shorefas t ice. On the basis of these estimates and harvest data from the Inuvialuit Harvest Study, we determined that Holman hunters removed 3.7-6.9% of the k ing elder subpopulation and less than 1% of the common eiders over the thre e-year study period. The present level of harvest of elders available to Ho lman hunters is likely sustainable. However, more information on natural mo rtality and recruitment rates, particularly for king elders, is needed to c onfirm this.