Photo: There’s fish in that ice!

There’s a fish in that ice! While some Iqaluit residents were out harvesting a bowhead on Aug. 14, these fishermen were returning with tubs full of char caught in and around York Sound and Kendall Strait. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans granted Iqaluit’s Kabva Marine Services a licence this year to fish in those waters near Iqaluit from July 9 to Aug. 20. The “feasibility licence” is given to fishers so they can explore the potential for commercial harvesting. The small marine company harvested 4,000 lb of char under that licence this summer. DFO collected samples from the char to study the health of the fish, and will use the trial fishery to find out if there are enough fish in the area to harvest sustainably and what tools or gear would work best for any future fishery. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)