Nirjutiqarvik National Wildlife Area

To protect a variety of seabirds and marine mammals.

Access to Nirjtuqarvik by anyone other than Inuit enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement is restricted, and any non-Nunavut Inuit must obtain a permit to enter the area. 

Nirjtuqarvik’s coastal cliffs offer ideal nesting habitat for approximately 385,000 seabirds, including 11 per cent and 16 per cent of the Canadian breeding populations of thick-billed murres and black-legged kittiwakes. Other bird species include Atlantic puffins, glaucous gulls and common eiders. Its marine waters provide feeding grounds for many mammals, including polar bears, walrus, and belugas. The plentiful wildlife make it an important place for Inuit from the closest community, Grise Fiord (approximately 100 km away), who harvest much of their food from the sea. Nirjutiqarvik is an Inuktitut word meaning “the place of animals.”