A deal to create Canada's first sanctuary for bowhead whales has been signed between the federal government and Nunavut's land claim organization after more than 25 years of talks and delays.

"These wildlife protected areas mean that the wildlife will be there forever, so we are happy about that," James Eetoolook, vice-president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., which oversees the Nunavut land claim, said Friday.

The agreement in principle, which outlines funding and management for 12 other wildlife and bird sanctuaries in the eastern Arctic, must now be ratified by Inuit groups and Parliament. The Treasury Board must also sign off on the financial commitments.

While most of the areas affected are already protected, the deal marks the conclusion of negotiations on Isabella Bay, which people in the adjacent community of Clyde River have been trying to have protected since 1982.

Isabella Bay will now be protected as Niginganiq National Wildlife Area.

"It took some time," said Eetoolook, who said he expects the final signing to take place this spring.

"We didn't want to see something the people of Clyde River couldn't live with."

The waters of Isabella Bay, on the northeast coast of Baffin Island, are a bowhead haven unparalleled in the world.

During the three months the bay's waters are free of ice, upwelling currents teem with tiny marine animals on which the bus-sized mammals feast. Whales slap at the water with their tailfins and flippers, rub their noses and clean their skin along sandbars, and dive to Isabella's deep seafloor to hide from killer whales, their main predator.

About 300 bowheads have been counted in Isabella Bay. Local Inuit say there are many more, and cruise ships report dozens of sightings a day.

Inuit hunting campsites dating back to prehistory times dot the area, as do the remains of the 19th-century whaling stations that originally hunted the bowheads nearly to extinction.

The deal includes $8.3 million over seven years from the federal government.

About half of that is to help locals build tourism operations. The rest of the money will fund archeological work, as well as hiring, planning and management costs.

The Inuit will be able to continue traditional use of all the protected lands, including hunting.

The deal, known as the Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement, was originally scheduled to be completed in 1998, before the creation of Nunavut.

Pete Ewins of the World Wildlife Fund, which has also been working to have Isabella Bay protected, welcomed Friday's announcement.

"It's an essential step," he said. "It's absolutely essential to provide the funds for communities to go and do what's prescribed to move things forward."

But he pointed out many other areas in Nunavut merit protection and some are under threat from resource development.

Milne Inlet on the north tip of Baffin Island, for example, is important polar bear and narwhal habitat, but a proposed iron mine would see year-round shipping in it.

The World Wildlife Fund has also called for greater protection of Nunavut's caribou calving grounds. Much of the area has been subject to heavy mineral staking.