Many Labrador Inuit are looking forward to the spring egging season.
The best way to learn good cultural harvesting practices is to talk to your elders.
Traditional harvesting practices ensure that the eggs collected are good to eat and enough eggs are left to ensure healthy bird populations in the future.
When eggs are harvested in the season, many birds will lay again and have successful clutches.
Collecting early in the season also minimizes the chance of collecting sated eggs, these are eggs with chicks developing inside.
Some recommendations fur sustainable egging include:
• Only take as many eggs as you and your family will eat
• Collect eggs only from nests with one to three eggs; if there are more than three eggs in the nest, it is likely that the eggs will be sated
• Take all eggs from a nest, when the eggs are good, to encourage the birds to lay again
• Take eggs as quickly as you can and then move away from the nesting area, as this minimizes disturbance to the nesting bird and remaining eggs.
After the eggs are collected, you can test the eggs to see if they are sated by placing them in water.
If they sink, they are good; if they float, they are sated and should be returned to the nest.
Practice safe and sustainable harvesting practices to ensure that your children will be able to enjoy egging for generations to come.