GN’s research vessel to travel around Qikiqtaaluk region
RV Nuliajuk’s summer and fall trip involves research and community engagement
The Government of Nunavut research vessel, the RV Nuliajuk, will be travelling around the Qikiqtaaluk region, also known as the Baffin region, through the summer and fall for research and community engagement. (File photo)
Residents in the Qikiqtaaluk region can keep an eye out for the RV Nuliajuk this summer and fall.
Nunavut’s research vessel is touring around the region to carry out studies including fish tracking and bottom-of-the-ocean mapping.
Residents in some of the communities it visits will also have the opportunity to tour the vessel.
The ship has been in service for the Government of Nunavut since 2011, GN spokesperson Mads Sandbakken told Nunatsiaq News.
It has multiple tools for research such as a trawl system, winches and a deck crane, plus a lab for research.
During the tour the crew is conducting a biodiversity and exploratory fishing survey, in which they takes samples of the marine habitat and the fish to check the health of the fish and their surroundings.
The goal is to determine the possibility of developing marine fisheries.
For fish tracking, crew members tag fish to see how far the fish swim. That will provide migration and swimming range information.
“This type of research is done to look at how far fish travel – since we can’t fly over and see the fish like can be done with land animals, this is a way of getting migration and range information,” Sandbakken said.
Bottom mapping is when sonar beams are used to map out the bottom of the ocean. That information will be used for marine transportation, to determine the potential for opening shellfish fisheries, and to see whether events like landslides have created movement at the bottom of the ocean.
The RV Nuliajuk will be in Pond Inlet from July 28 to Aug. 14. Much of that time will be used to conduct research, but from Aug. 8 to Aug. 14 the vessel will stay for community engagement and vessel tours.
From Aug. 19 to Aug. 26, the ship will be in Grise Fiord to conduct bottom mapping.
Following that trip, it will go to Qikiqtarjuaq from Sept. 2 to Sept. 12 to do a biodiversity and fishing survey, as well as fish tracking.
After that, the RV Nuliajuk will be in Pangnirtung from Sept. 18 to Oct. 9 for the same research work and from Oct. 11 to Oct. 17, it will stay in the community for engagement and vessel tours.
The RV Nuliajuk will finish its tour in Iqaluit, doing community engagement from Oct. 23 to Oct. 29.
Will this vessel be overwintering in Nunavut? Iqaluit and Rankin likely both have the capacity for dry moorage.