In January 2013 the Innu, Inuit and Cree of Québec and Nunatsiavut, NunatuKavut and the Innu of Labrador formed the Ungava Peninsula Caribou Aboriginal Round Table held emergency meetings and issued a joint statement. in respond to the "critical decline" of the George River caribou herd (GRCH) and the "uncertain future" of the Leaf River caribou herd (LRCH) and Torngat caribou herds. In the 1980s there were between 700,000-800,000 in the herd migrating between northern Québec and Labrador. By 2010 there were 74,000. By 2012 the numbers dropped to 27,600 and by 2014 there were only 14,200. The migratory George River caribou herd travel thousands of kilometres moving from wintering grounds to calving grounds near the Inuit hamlet of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik (also known as George River hamlet). Caribou generally travel upwards of annually and live in an area of about . Some individuals have been observed traveling in a single year. The caribou population varies considerably, for unknown reasons, and their numbers have apparently peaked in the later decades of each of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The most recent decline at the turn of the 20th century caused much hardship for the Inuit and Cree communities of Nunavik, who hunt them for subsistence. By 1950, as few as 5000 caribou remained in northern Québec and Labrador. In late September 1984, about south of the northern village of Kuujjuaq, Québec, about 10,000 caribou (appr. 2% of the George River herd) drowned while crossing the Caniapiscau River, immediately above the Calcaire (Limestone) Falls. The Caniapiscau River confluences with the Larch River downstream from Calcaire (Limestone) Falls to create the Koksoak River that flows into southern Ungava Bay. Although the caribou regularly criss-cross northern rivers and lakes and can swim 10 km at a stretch, northern rivers and lakes often claim lives during their annual migrations. At the time of the accident, observers raised questions about Hydro-Québec's management of the newly built reservoir on the headwaters of the Caniapiscau River, some upstream, and focused their attention on decisions made in the days following the exceptionally heavy rains in September 1984.