Researchers study oil-eating microbes off Hudson Bay coast
Genice II project staffed with Inuit and southern researchers
Field technician Simon Aggark of the Sapujiyiit Society, left, and Anulik Kadjuk fill a bottle with under-ice seawater during a sample-collecting trip near Chesterfield Inlet in April. (Photo courtesy of Masha Kardashevskaya)
A team of Inuit and southern researchers is using the water off Chesterfield Inlet as a living laboratory as they study naturally occurring microbes that feed on oil residue in the ocean.
Run out of the Centre for Observation Science at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, since 2022, the Genice II project blends scientific method with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or traditional Inuit knowledge. It builds on data from previous studies in Winnipeg and at the University of Calgary in 2015 and 2020.
The researchers are looking for microbial communities beneath the ice. These samples form baseline data with which subsequent samples may be compared, to identify any population changes, Collins said.
Microbes are the foundation of the marine food chain, ultimately supporting the species that make up country food.
Microbial activity is key for kiviaq (fermented seabirds) and mikigaq (fermented whale), by supplying the nutrients and vitamins necessary for fermentation.
Microbes can be harmful, in the form of algae blooms, which can choke out other aquatic life. These varieties are not evident in the region, Collins said.
The microbes pertinent to Genice II naturally maintain water quality in marine and freshwater environments by degrading and decontaminating human pollutants, which can include fossil fuels, the researchers have found. They can monitor these microbes to detect oil spills.
So far, researchers have not detected any disturbances that would indicate an oil spill occurred.
“If there were a spill, we would see indicator species that eat the oil,” Collins said.
A recent 50-litre oil spill 300 kilometres upstream, near Baker Lake, is not expected to affect findings, Collins added.
However, with increased shipping through the region, the risk of spills is ever present.
Chesterfield Inlet narrowly escaped environmental calamity in 2012 when the MV Nanny ran aground in the inlet carrying almost 3 million litres of oil.
The research reveals that the microbes behave differently in the North than they do in warmer climes, due to the low ocean temperature, Collins said.
It takes Arctic microbes one month to begin eating the same amount of oil that microbes in the Gulf of Mexico begin eating after two weeks, he said.
The scientists work with the Sapujiyiit Society, a grassroots group of Inuit knowledge-keepers that provides community-led environmental monitoring in the hamlet. They collect samples on the ice.
“That relationship has been very important to make our project work,” said microbiologist Eric Collins.
Some new microbial species have also been discovered along the way. Inuit of all ages will be asked to come up with Inuktitut names for these species in October, said Nicole Wilson, associate professor of environment and geography at the University of Manitoba.
As Paul Olalik said back in 2019, oil spill response was almost non-existent.
Now, with an upcoming 2027 report, with a rough working title, Second Five-Year Climate and Marine Science-Based Review.
This scientific work in Chesterfield Inlet, looking for microbes feeding on oil. Does show the oil spill homework is being worked on and with Inuit knowledge.
It’ll help move forward Wab Wab Kinew’s opening of Churchill for year-round oil and gas tanker shipping.
Also GN and NTI will be interested in reading the report, with the devolution agreement moving towards offshore petroleum powers and revenue sharing negotiations eyes.
In 1976, a team of researchers with the Geological Survey of Canada discovered natural oil seeps coming from the sea floor off the coast of Baffin Island, in the area of Scott Inlet north of Clyde River. This is better known as a “critical feeding area for Bowhead Whales”.
It is estimated that around 25,000 to 75,000 barrels of unprocessed oil seeps from the seafloor in these areas every year, as well as methane gas. This has been occurring, as far as anyone can tell, from time immemorial.
25,000 to 75,000 barrels of oil a year. Every year. Every decade. Every century. Every millennia. Perhaps even before there were any such things as iconic Arctic species like Polar Bears and Narwhals, which evolved a mere 400,000 to 500,000 years ago.
In other words, oil seeping into the Arctic Ocean is natural, and the marine ecosystem, especially off the coast of Baffin Island, has fully adapted to the continual presence of fossil fuels.
If fossil fuels used by humans were to enter the Arctic Ocean, it probably would not be a good thing and should be avoided. However, it hardly seems right to characterize such a possible event as a calamity. Much more viscous material than Arctic diesel enters the same ocean in higher volumes than a fully loaded coastal tanker, without anyone even noticing or minding.
If the good folks at the University of Manitoba and Calgary were not so worried about cashing in on the general anxiety Canadians feel about the Arctic environment, and the research grants that follow these “priorities”, perhaps they would be quicker to acknowledge these scientific facts.