Why hunting is necessary in Greenland
A mother and sons harvest a beluga whale in Qaanaaq for survival.
This is uncomfortable. My role is to challenge people but I’m fully aware that the hunting of whales is not pleasant to look at. But there is a story here – an important one – and being uncomfortable is what changed everything for me.
You might have seen the headlines about security staff in Nuuk going hunting in Greenland back in August rather than coming to work that Sunday, 3 August. Apparently my Reddit post and a photo from someone I traveled with were the main sources for the NYT article. How irresponsible! That was the reaction of many.
What really happened was a failure on two levels. Staff are exhausted. The weather in Greenland has been exceptionally volatile this year and Greenland Airports moved to a new hub in Nuuk. This hadn’t been done before, it’s like getting a system and not knowing what you don’t know because it’s so new to you. But you can see how few employees there are and how they’re so thinly stretched. I feel for them and you should too before criticizing the airport situation in Greenland right now. But here is the real kicker: Before the international airlines agreed to do a flight on weekends, they should have consulted the workforce. Why? So you don’t end up in a situation like this, damaging the reputation of Greenland.
The logistics in Greenland are a miracle. I know them so well that people come to me to sort out their projects with locals that I trust and I know people from just about every town to get the job done. However, it’s imperative to understand that food security is still a huge societal problem in Greenland. So reindeer and muskox hunting are essential activities. Filling the freezer with fresh and nutritious food for the winter is non-negotiable. Of course, people need to hunt and pass the traditions down. It’s not for fun. It’s for survival. They don’t have the luxury of choice like many of us judging them in places with supermarkets and pork for $0.99/lb on blue light special.
The photo above is a subsistence hunt from Qaanaaq, the northernmost town in Greenland only 850 miles from the north pole. You cannot grow anything there and the food that’s in the grocery store is exorbitantly expensive and not what you need to survive in such harsh conditions. Qaanaaq is very dark and very cold. They also were not consulted when they were forcibly relocated here in the early 1950s when Thule Air Base was about to be built. They had 3 days notice and were told they could come back to their ancestral home but it never happened. Even today. Their meteorite is still in the Smithsonian. Their hunting grounds eventually were limited by the colonial border with Canada and now the disappearing sea ice has prevented them from accessing one of the only things they had left. See the film ‘The Last Ice.’
Hopefully this makes sense why the Inughuit must hunt small whales like the beluga here. They must. And the magic of it is that everyone gets some meat. And even more amazing is that the skin being cut in the image contains their primary source of vitamin c. You cannot live in these areas without the whales.
Less than 1100 people or 2% of Greenlanders are in the very remote Qaanaaq area (NW Greenland) and Ittoqqortoormiit (NE Greenland), where subsistence hunting is critical. These people, my family, are not depleting the populations of whales. They’re not the villain. They never have been and never will be. Sins of the past and present are the answer. Blame the whalers (hundreds of years ago – those guys), the dirty industries, and greed. Greed does not work in these communities. You won’t survive so it makes no sense.
I /me /mine fails. That was the beauty of what happened to me in Qaanaaq when I saw this. We / us /our is the only way. Survival became more important than my individual needs. It shifted my perspective and understanding of the world. It transformed me. Communal sharing of the hunt is a given. I was flying out the next day and I gave 10kg of some valuable mattak to friends down south in Ilulissat. Everyone has a role and it’s a beautiful thing. I hope more of you will come with us to these places in remote Greenland.
I hope this story helps some of you out there that do not understand the delicate balance of life in remote Greenland. Particularly when it comes to the hunting of marine mammals. I’ve been so blessed to meet so many people online and in person this summer that have devoted their lives to animals, these animals. But I’m certain that they walked away with context they didn’t have prior to hearing my stories that are deliberately crafted. This story is not unique. There are places all over the indigenous world that practice things that are uncomfortable to me and you but are vital for them. Mutual respect is all we ask and placing equal value on traditional knowledge is what we will do with our polar bear initiative.