Present and past dynamics of Inughuit resource spaces

Abstract

Information from a collaborative GPS tracking project, Piniariarneq, involving 17 occupational hunters from Qaanaaq and Savissivik, Northwest Greenland, is used to explore the resource spaces of hunters in Avanersuaq today. By comparison with historical records from the time of the Thule Trading Station and the decades following its closure, we reveal a marked variability in resource spaces over time. It is argued that the dynamics of resources and resource spaces in Thule are not underlain by animal distribution and migration patterns, or changes in weather and sea ice conditions alone; but also by economic opportunities, human mobility, settlement patterns, particular historical events and trajectories, and not least by economic and political interests developed outside the region.

Keywords: GPS tracking; Hunting; Mobility; Networks; Resource spaces; Seasonality.

Fig. 1

All GPS tracks from hunting trips recorded through the Piniariarneq study (n = 725) from May 16th 2015 to June 26th 2016. The tracks are a result of both dog sledge and motor boat traffic, as well as trips on foot. Notice how the towns in the northern part of the area are tightly interconnected, whereas Savissivik is not directly connected to any of the other towns. Uummannap Kangerlua (Wolstenholme Fjord), which was the heart of the district during the Thule Station period, almost takes on the appearance of a void in the motor boat/dog sledge traffic network of today

Fig. 2

Traffic intensity and catches during the months April–June 2015/16, recorded by hunters that participated in the Piniariarneq study. Traffic intensity (km track line per km²) is displayed on a relative scale for the season, ranging from blue (low) over yellow (intermediate) to red (high). In the legend, the number of recorded catch events and the estimated number of individuals bagged are given for each species. Place names mentioned in the main text are indicated on the map. The dotted white-and-black lines represent the extent of the land-fast ice during the first week of the months April–June 2015/16. This was clearly a period dominated by the hunting of a wide range of species along the edge of the land-fast sea ice

Fig. 3

Traffic intensity and catches during the months July–September 2015 (“the open water season”), recorded by hunters that participated in the Piniariarneq study. Traffic intensity (km track line per km²) is displayed on a relative scale for the season, ranging from blue (low) over yellow (intermediate) to red (high). In the legend, the number of recorded catch events and the estimated number of individuals bagged are given for each species. Place names mentioned in the main text are indicated on the map. This period was dominated by open water hunting of narwhals in Kangerlussuaq (Inglefield Bredning) and Illaarsussuaq (Sidebriksfjord)

Fig. 4

GPS tracks and animal recordings (both catches and sightings) from July to September 2015, documented by two hunters from Savissivik who participated in the Piniariarneq study. The difference between the glacier fronts as of August 1st 2015 (in blue), and the glacier fronts charted on the topographic map (in black), demonstrates that the glacier in the bottom of Illaarsussuaq (Sidebriksfjord) has retracted more than 7 km, opening up the area in which the narwhals were hunted during the open water season of 2015. The narwhals did not return Illaarsussuaq in the summer of 2016

Fig. 5

Traffic intensity and catches during the months October–December 2015, recorded by hunters that participated in the Piniariarneq study. Traffic intensity (km track line per km²) is displayed on a relative scale for the season, ranging from blue (low) over yellow (intermediate) to red (high). In the legend, the number of recorded catch events and the estimated number of individuals bagged are given for each species. Place names mentioned in the main text are indicated on the map. During this period of gradual sea-ice formation, mobility was restricted and most hunting activities took place close to the towns. However, hunters from Qaanaaq made a few longer trips to Iluleerloq (Murchison Sound) to hunt walrus

Fig. 6

Traffic intensity and catches during the months January–March 2016, recorded by hunters that participated in the Piniariarneq study. Traffic intensity (km track line per km²) is displayed on a relative scale for the season, ranging from blue (low) over yellow (intermediate) to red (high). In the legend, the number of recorded catch events and the estimated number of individuals bagged are given for each species. Place names mentioned in the main text are indicated on the map. The dotted white-and-black lines represent the extent of the land-fast ice during the first week of the months January–March 2016. During this period of extensive fast ice, activities of Qaanaaq hunters were focussed on Greenland halibut fishery in Kangerlussuaq (Inglefield Bredning), whereas Savissivik hunters netted seals close to town and went on long trips towards east in pursuit of polar bears

Fig. 7

Spatial distribution of the total biomass of catches (in kg) recorded by the 17 hunters who participated in the Piniariarneq study between May 16th 2015 and June 26th 2016. Left panel: On a colour scale from blue (low) to red (high), this map shows kg biomass harvested per km² within a radius of 5 km around every point in the landscape. It thus highlights hotspots of resource extraction seen over the whole GPS tracking period. South and southwest of Qaanaaq several hotspots are apparent, mainly resulting from the spring ice edge hunt but also from Greenland Halibut fishery during winter. The large hotspot close to Qeqertat is a combined result of the summer narwhal hunt and the winter fishing for Greenland halibut. The walrus hunt in Iluleerloq (Murchison Sound) is also clearly visible. The hunting from Savissivik mainly resulted in two hotspots, one in Illaarsussuaq (Sidebriksfjord) corresponding to the summer narwhal hunt, and one centred on the town relating to seal netting during winter. However, several smaller hotspots are also apparent along the ice edge. Right panel: This graph shows the accumulated percentage of the hunting bag (in kg) as a function of distance from the hometowns of the participating hunters (red line: Qaanaaq; blue line: Savissivik), and any town in the study area (dashed line). As can be seen, Qaanaaq and Savissivik hunters bagged 75% of their gross weight of game within approx. 60 and 35 km of their hometowns, respectively

Fig. 8

Active winter settlements and their number of households in 1933. Marked concentrations of families are seen at the Thule Station itself and at the newly established trading post Siorapaluk. The black lines represent the main sledge routes during the Thule Station Period, 1910–1953. Note that several routes lead across fringe areas of the Inland Ice. They served partly as shortcuts, partly as ‘escape routes’ in case of open water, unstable sea-ice conditions or lack of an ice foot at the coast. Reproduced with Permission from Holtved (1935, 1937); Holtved (1944); Gilberg (1971); Grønnow (2016)

Fig. 9

Permanently inhabited villages and their number of houses in 1969. The distribution of houses during the Post-Thule Station Period shows a marked concentration of Inughuit families in Qaanaaq and the nearby hamlets Siorapaluk and Qeqertarsuaq. Reproduced with Permission from Gilberg (1971); Grønnow (2016)