Isak and Assetaq Alatak

Husband and Wife Retired from Hunting

Moriasaq, Greenland

 

"In the future, the polar bears will have to spend more time on the land."

2006

Hoping for an Easier Retirement

Isak and Assataq Alatak moved to Qaanaaq from the shrinking settlement of Moriassaq in March 2006. After more than 50 years of hunting, they hoped to lead an easier life in Qaanaaq, with its larger population and amenities like 24-hour electricity.

When we met, the Alataks were staying temporarily in an empty house, waiting for something permanent to open up.  Qaanaaq is growing so quickly — with people moving in from smaller settlements and a birth rate that exceeds the death and emigration rates — that home construction can no longer keep up with demand. So the Alataks join the list of families waiting for a permanent home.

In the meantime, they are warm and comfortable in a mostly-empty two-story house. There is an aluminum dinette set, a mattress strewn with sheets and clothing, a worn sofa and an old cook stove on the first floor. The windows, light bulbs and floors are bare. The only sign of homey-ness comes from a tiny blue candle Isak lights and sets on the table in front of him, candles being an ever-present sign of hospitality in Greenland.

As Isak, Navarranna and I talk, Assataq briefly leaves the house to buy coffee and throat lozenges. When she returns, she brews a pot of coffee and hands Isak the lozenges. Several years ago he was hunting in an area where a U.S. Airforce bomber had crashed in the 1970s, losing two nuclear warheads in the process.  Thule Inuit were hired to scrape and clear tons of radioactive ice. Isak says that ever since hunting in the affected area he has had a sore throat that doctors can't diagnose. He sucks on lozenges all day and suspects that the nuclear accident is to blame. While he talks, Assataq nods in agreement and softens a just-finished dried, snow-white seal hide with her hands, wrinkling and kneading it to relax the stiff skin.

On Climate Change

Malin: Tell me about any changes you're seeing in the environment and whether you think climate change is to blame.

Isak: There is less  sea ice now. So in the future, the polar bears will have to spend more time on land. They will have to be closer to the land because there is less floating ice.

We already see more bears on land and less on the floating ice. They follow the seals to the fjords.  

Also, we are seeing unusual things. A dead Greenland shark washed up on a beach near Moriasaq a few weeks ago. We do not know why it died. It is very unusual to see things like this. I wondered if you know anything about the affect of climate change on sharks. But about this climate change as you call it, I don't know. I just know were are seeing unusual things.

Malin: I don't know anything about that, but I do have a colleague who is studying the subject. I can ask him to mail you some information.

On The Hunting Culture

Malin: Do you want your sons to be hunters?

Isak:  We raised four sons in Moriasaq. One of them is a hunter. I would like my other sons to be hunters, but it is a very hard way to live. And it is getting harder. The hunting life is changing. There are many rules now that we did not have when I started hunting at the age of 14. The other men taught me.  Now it is very hard to be a traditional hunter. It is okay that my other sons have jobs. I want a better life for them."

We moved to Qaanaaq because there are more services here. There is a doctor and electricity. We get a small pension from the Greenland government and will live on that. I may hunt a little and we will catch Greenland Halibut in the fjord. But it is easier here than in Moriasaq.

On the Decline of Small Settlements

Malin: Now that you have left Moriasaq, what will happen to the village?

Isak: There are only four families left in Moriasaq. I do not think it will survive much longer. Home Rule government makes it harder to live in the settlements. They put many rules on traditional hunters.  I know it is hard for the government to send teachers to the settlements and for the supply ship to make so many stops. But this is the traditional way of Greenland. This is the way we have lived, on the land.  That way is changing now."

2008

Isak hadn't changed in the two years since we last spoke. He still has a thick shock of graying hair which I suspect his wife cuts for him. Several times as we talked and he became particularly upset or excited about a topic, he leaned forward in his chair and used his hands to describe or express things. Isak's hands are uncommonly large, not surprising considering the muscle and calluses he's built up over the years. Yet as thick as they are, his hands are also graceful.  He doesn't clench his fists or pound on the table. He keeps his hands open as he gentley gesticulates.

Changes Continue in Villages and Environment

Malin: How has it felt to be away from Moriasaq for the past two years and live in Qaanaaq?  Is life easier?

Isak:  The reason we are not in Moriasaq is that there are no more ice pans. We can't hunt without them. There is halibut fishing. But the sea ice in Moriasaq doesn't freeze anymore. You can't hunt walruses and seals without sea ice.  Morisaq stays open, ice free, year round now. Before it would freeze in November.

Malin: So what will happen to Moriasaq?

Isak:  Since there is no ice there will be no hunters. Only three people live there now. They will leave soon. People are leaving Savissaviq too.

Malin: What is causing these changes?

Isak: I don't know why it's getting warmer. It used to be very, very cold, so cold that when the dogs' breath freezes you couldn't see the dogs from the sled.  I still don't know about climate change.  I hear talk about it on the radio, that's all I know. But our ancestors always tell us that sometimes nature will be warmer and sometimes much colder.

Health of Humans and Animals

Malin: When I saw you two years ago, you had a bad cough and a sore throat. You said you have it all the time and you think it's from cleaning up radiation after the bomber crashed near Thule air base.  Do you still have the cough?

Isak: Yes. I still have it and now my wife has it too. We still think it could be radioactive pollution from the plane crash. When I go to the doctor, they just tell me it is nothing.

Malin:  Tell me about animal populations, what's happening with them?

Isak: There are not so many walruses anymore.  We used to eat it a lot, but not so much anymore.  There were so many before that it was easier to hunt and get food.

Malin:  You had said in 2006 that one of your four sons had become a hunter. Is he still hunting?

Isak:  Two of my sons are now hunters. I tell all of my sons to be educated. And they tried to be. But in the end two of them wanted to be hunters..

Malin: Do you think conditions 20 years from now will permit your grandchildren to be hunters?

Isak:  I would prefer if my grandchildren were not hunters. It's too hard. But maybe 1 or 2 of them will be.  Who can tell?  They do what they want..

"We cannot live without traditional food..."

Malin: How do you fell about all the changes you are seeing and experiencing?

Isak:  It's very hard for me to say how I feel. There will always be a need for hunting. I don't like European food so much. It does not nourish me. We cannot live without the traditional food we grew up with.