Fishery group, CanNor and others team up to study eastern fishery

A new study, based on data gathered by researchers aboard the Kiviuq I last year, will examine the possibility of commercial fisheries off Baffin’s east coast. (FILE PHOTO)

The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, or CanNor, announced July 5 that $1.2 million has been earmarked to study the possibility of commercial fisheries for Arctic Bay, Resolute Bay and Qikiqtarjuaq.

A July 5 news release from Navdeep Bains, minister responsible for CanNor, says the federal agency will contribute to examining fisheries data gathered in 2015 in and around those three communities from on board the Kiviuq fishing vessel.

“The research from this project has the potential to help Inuit-owned businesses expand and innovate, and could lead to high quality jobs for Inuit,” Bains wrote, in the news release.

The $1.2 million in study funding will come from six different sources, the news release said:

• $208,868 from CanNor;

• $630,832 from the Arctic Fishery Alliance, owner of the Kiviuq vessel;

• $182,000 from the Nunavut government;

• $144,851 from the National Research Council;

• $60,000 from Oceans North; and,

• $20,000 from the Ocean Tracking Network.

The release added that the Arctic Fishery Alliance has established a partnership with the Marine Institute at Memorial University in Newfoundland to analyze the data that was obtained in 2015.

Researchers on board the Kiviuq in 2015 studied the waters to examine the commercial viability of such species as turbot, shrimp and whelk and also “gathered baseline environmental, oceanographic, and ecological data,” the release said.

“AFA has always been committed to investing in Nunavut’s future,” said Jaypetee Akeeagok, chair of the AFA, in the news release.

“The support of CanNor is appreciated and assists us to make the discoveries needed to develop inshore fisheries in our owner-communities.”

A group of southern academics from Carleton and Queen’s universities is also currently looking at the possibility, and sustainability of a commercial fishery in Gjoa Haven.