Pond inlet, northern Baffin island: The structure of an Eskimo resource area

Abstract

Abstract The structure and yield of hunting, trapping and fishing areas around Pond Inlet in northern Baffin Land are analyzed on the basis of interviews with local Eskimos. Despite the abandonment of outlying Eskimo camps and the concentration of population in the central settlement of Pond Inlet since the 1960's, virtually all the former hunting and fishing areas continue to be exploited. However, the intensity of use (in number of fishing or hunting days per km2) is highest in the immediate vicinity of the central settlement, as is also the intensity of yield (in kilo cats per km2 and in dollar revenue per km). On the basis of optimal daily energy requirements in Arctic regions, local hunting and fishing are found to supply less than 29 percent of food energy needs; Eskimos evidently show a growing preference for foodstuffs of southern Canadian origin. Fieldwork in 1973–74 was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. (The translation is by William Barr, University of Saskatchewan.)