WHALING CAMP AT BABY ISLAND

Smaller p hotos L-R: 1. A schooner from the ‘old days’ (ICRC picture) 2 M aktak hanging to dry 3. Maktak being cooked 4. Maureen Elias’s grandchildren get on a speedb oat 5. Stefan Allen 6. Julia and Carmen Rogers, and Peter John with their wooden toyboats 7. Children playing in a tent frame.

Right page (Top to Bottom): 1. Roy Ipana’s grandson, Stanley chopping wood 2. Kyle Conley helping trim maktak 3. Carmen Rogers having some whale heart and flipper stew.

Baby Island

It’s summertime! That brings to mind the rich possibilities of berry picking, char fishing, and of course whale hunting. To learn more about this traditional hunt, Tusaayaksat went to Baby Island. The look of Baby Island change as the 24-hour sun travels continuously around it. At turns, there is mist, dew, fog, blue skies and golden light that deepens the color and detail in the flowering tundra and the contours of surrounding islands. It looks like paradise, complete with opportunities to see nesting goslings and watch Belugas spout in the water.

Maureen and Walter Elias were the first to move there twenty-one years ago. “We landed right on shore here and saw some tent rings , so we thought this area wouldn’t flood. We used to wait for at least a weekend before we could see whales at the Kendall Island Camp, but we saw whales right away here.”

Maureen remembered that as children, “We used to stay in the tents, we were not allowed to play on the shore or make noise, so as not to disturb the whales. Now it’s different, men help with cutting the maktak. In the old days they just pull up the whale.” In fact, a lot has changed about whaling, and Roy Ipana, whose whale camp is at the point of Baby Island agrees.

Then And Now

“When I was a young lad, most people were at Kendall Island, Big James Roger’s family had their camp there,” he said. “We all lived together, and went out to hunt together. We shared everything.” To get to Kendall Island, “most of the time we were all piled in a schooner called the Keevik (Old Harry’s), and another called Sea Queen (Papik’s).”

Roy recalled the sight of flags on the mast of schooners. “You could tell how many whales they got from the number of flags flying on the schooner’s mast. All I need now is one whale, if my brothers and sisters need maktak, then I’ll get two. There’s no use getting more than you need.”

“Nowadays people stay in different camps, and if you don’t get here in 6 hours, you took too long. It used to take 3 days! But we didn’t complain a bit then. We didn’t know any other life. We came out at the end of the residential school term, and were so glad to spend the summer here, to stay out all night and to hunt all day.”

“When I come here I feel completely free. It’s just a beautiful place to be, I wished I could retire here. Nowadays we rush here and rush home. That’s the part I don’t like.”

“With the price of gas now, and the lack of jobs in Inuvik, it prevents some people from coming down. I used to take my boat all over and show my kids the country. Now, we try to keep the gas for hunting whale, and for getting water and wood.”

Roy hopes to get a schooner when he retires. “A schooner can take six up to seven families if you do it right. The government (social services) used to help bring people down here.” He said it would be nice if the government or IRC can help provide schooners so families can hunt together again.

Getting Ready

Other families with whaling camps on Baby Island include Rita and Colin Allen, as well as Victor Allen and his family. Freddie Rogers helped Dennis Allen put up a new maktak stage this year. Freddie told us how to get the whale camp ready for a hunt. “There’s a whole bunch of work you always have to do when you first come back. You have to prepare your stage, your table, and get your logs.” know if whales have been spied, or just with banter.

Maureen prefers the independence of making decisions at her own camp, instead of being “bossed around” at the larger camps. She doesn’t miss the old times. “It was really hard. We used to have to get wood everyday and fetch water. Now we can have showers and we don’t have to use wood stoves only.” Most people have propane fueled stoves for faster cooking times.

Her cabin is built with plywood left over from abandoned oil rigs. It is roomy and comfortable, with a bedroom, storage room and outhouse. She made some delicious whale flipper and heart stew, which her grandchildren ate for lunch. Julia likes the stew, but Peter doesn’t. Carmen, her older grandchild, said, “I like cooked maktak, it smells yucky but it tastes yummy.” Maureen hopes her grandchildren will learn from watching her butcher the whales and cutting up the maktak.

Preparing Muktuk

“The first time I cut up a whale was at Baby Island. I didn’t know how to cut the head or the tail, but I had a sharp ulu

“The table has to be flat so you have an even place to work. After you dry fresh maktak on logs, you put it on the table and cut some of the fat off, cube the remaining maktak, and wash it. You hang up that maktak to dry on the stage for another couple of days, and after that it’s ready for cooking.”

“For drymeat (mipguk), it is good to have a cover made for the stage, in case it rains. Some people like their maktak raw, we call it weeluk. You make that mostly from the flippers and the backbone area.”

“And then you age the maktak to make uqruq. Some people don’t like it too much, but some people think it’s a delicacy. I tried it once and I couldn’t stop, and you know what happens after that,” he laughs, “You gotta find some place to squat!” His sense of humor makes visiting fun. When a boat is seen on the horizon, it is customary to put on a pot of coffee for the visitors. Roy said there is less surprise now that bush camp radios are widely used. These radios often cackle with announcements, letting hunters and I remember from watching my elders.” She said the uqruq (oil) from maktak has the added benefit of keeping her hands soft! Her grandchildren and daughter assisted her; Kyle, who is ten, cut off the top parts of maktak and fed it to the seagulls. It keeps them full so they do not attack the maktak meant for humans.

Maureen’s husband ,Walter, is a whale monitor. He measures the whales’ jaw bones when they are caught. Marine biologists and researchers have a presence at Whaling Camps. Stephen Raverty is working on a project to discern the behavior of certain bacteria in the whales. He stays at a cabin next to Roy’s camp for about a month every year, and is also mentoring local youth in collecting biology samples.

The Hunt And Change

Stefan Allen, twenty-three, is Colin and Rita’s grandson. He has gone to whaling camp with them since he was ten but had moved away for the last three years. He helps them hunt and contributes towards the gas costs. He noticed a lot of change. “I used to see snow around here, and less soil erosion. On a clear day, we used to walk quite a ways out to swim and played baseball on the flats. Now there’s less land and a lot less young people.”

Roy Ipana also noticed global warming effects on the snow, which used to last past July. Maureen noticed change in the animals, “It used to be just seagulls, but now we’ve ravens and bald eagles too”. When you walk to the top of the hill, you can see one side of it has crumbled away. Roy knows that climate change will eventually affect whaling. Nevertheless, the hunt itself will always remain exciting and be a rite of passage for those who get to experience it.

Stefan said, “I shot my first whale with Uncle Freddie and Jerry Rogers. I got a big adrenalin rush out of it; my uncles told me to follow the flow, that I already knew what to do from watching them. I also learnt not to rush at whales as they could turn on you and bump the boat!”

Roy shares his years of experience. “When you see the whales pushing in the shallow water, it’s a good time to get one. Usually the hunters round up here and get out. We harpoon them first, that’s what I was taught, so that they don’t get away, then you follow it, shoot it, tie it to the boat with the float, and bring it back. It’s getting trickier around here. I’ve gone out 3 times already, but it’s almost like they know they’re being hunted, they went straight out to the deep water. We should do it like the old days, hunt together so that it's harder for them to get away.”