DFO hopes to finish Sylvia Grinnell char stock study by 2020

A student working for the summer at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Iqaluit collects samples from an Arctic char. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

On the banks of the Sylvia Grinnell River July 19, near Iqaluit, territorial conservation officer Leesee Papatsie runs her self-described “work ulu” along the back of an Arctic char as she prepares to make “pitsi,” or dried fish.

Her fingers follow closely behind the blade’s incision as it cuts along the fish.

She tells the crowd standing around her that the trick is to make sure the cut is parallel to the spine-bone and not over the top of it.

Papatsie’s demonstration is part of a nine-week series of free seminars and lectures this summer by Nunavut’s environment department on simple skills and lessons for life in the Arctic.

“Its gives community members the skillsets to go outdoors and to learn a bit about the Inuit culture,” Papatsie told Nunatsiaq News.

Alongside Papatsie were biologists from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who put on a short demonstration of the kind of samples they collect in the field.

The department is two years into a five-year study examining the Arctic char populations at Sylvia Grinnell River.

“It’ll allow us to do a stock assessment on the specific Arctic char stock,” said DFO biologist Christopher Lewis.

“You’ll get age, length frequency, you can determine mortality rates if you get a clean data set.”

It goes without saying that the river, its fish and the residents of Iqaluit are strongly linked — but it’s not been without some rough water.

That’s something the DFO is hoping to clarify.

According to a 2011 DFO report on Arctic char at Sylvia Grinnell River, the population is still recovering from commercial fishing efforts near Iqaluit dating back as early at the 1940s.

Two attempts were made to develop a commercial fishery for Arctic char from 1947 to 1951, followed by more attempts between 1959 and 1966.

Those enterprises shut down after experiencing extreme decreases in the fish population.

Today, local residents, as well as Iqaluit’s hunting and trapping organization, are fearful of the stock’s decline as fishers continue using the “snagging” method which injures many char during the upstream migration on the river, the 2011 DFO report notes.

Some recent studies conducted by the DFO suggest the population is recovering but to what extent remains largely unknown.

“There’s some positive signs, and you hear from a lot of the local fishers too that the fish are bigger now too,” Lewis said.

The DFO reported in 2011 that there are more char at the minimum reproductive age — eight- or nine-years-old — in the river since the 1980s, but population levels have not yet returned to levels recorded between 1948 and 1951.

Researchers were unable to estimate a sustainable harvest level due to an insufficient number of marked char recaptured by DFO biologists.

To remedy that, Lewis says department biologists are collecting samples from approximately 200 fish for every year of its five-year study.

The report will be released sometime in 2020, Lewis says.

The Department of Environment’s “Learn to…” series of workshops continues every Tuesday until Aug. 23.

“I’m finding a lot of people are coming to the Inuit culture related events. It’s been really good,” Papatsie said on the attendance so far.

Papatsie says all events will be held in the Sylvia Grinnell Park pavilion if the weather will not permit an outdoor seminar.

The next event in the series is scheduled for July 26 when instructors will demonstrate how to use GPS and SPOT devices.