The N.W.T. government wants to limit the harvest of its largest caribou herd to cope with a dramatic decline in its population.

The Bathurst caribou herd, which lives between Yellowknife and the Arctic Ocean, has decreased by 74 per cent in the past 20 years, dropping from 472,000 to 128,000.

The government, which released its proposals Tuesday, wants to reduce the number of caribou permits given to hunting companies and to ban the commercial sale of caribou meat.

It wants to establish a no-hunting corridor along winter roads in the Tlicho region.

It also wants aboriginal hunters to report the number of caribou they kill. Non-aboriginal hunters are already required to do so.

Environment and Natural Resources spokesperson Bob Bailey said the government would like to limit the harvest to four per cent of the herd, or about 5,000 animals a year.

Harvest easy to adjust: Bailey

"There's a number of things that affect caribou herd populations, but harvest is one of the ones that we can adjust much easier than we can other elements, like, for example, climate change," Bailey said.

The government's proposals now go to the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board so people in the Tlicho territory can review them before making their own recommendations to the government.

The Bathurst herd is one of several barren ground herds experiencing a sharp population decline.