What lies beneath

KIRSTEN MURPHY

Colin Gallagher and Noah Nakashook walk through tidal pools left from the ebb and flow of a receding tide.

Day and night, the University of Manitoba biologist and his assistant faithfully monitor low tides at Iqaluit’s causeway, or Kangittuatsia flats.

With scales and rulers stored in their backpacks, the duo quietly pluck Arctic char snagged in six pre-selected nets. By September, they will have weighed, sized, and probed about 400 fish.

Nothing is wasted. Nakashook ensures the gutted fish are delivered to the appropriate fishermen. In the case of his own fish, he makes pitsi, or gives it to family and friends.

“We seem to get more fish later in the day,” Nakashook said.

Gallagher’s boss, Dr. Terry Dicks, will provide Iqalungmiut with results from the study in a couple of years.

The data may lead to a permanent community-based char monitoring program, using traditional Inuit knowledge. Similar studies may be established throughout the North and for long-term fishing management plans.

Over-fishing in the Sylvia Grinnell River has long been source of concern.

“I hope we can use it for other parts of the Arctic that have expanding communities with more and more pressure on local resources,” Dicks said from his office in Winnipeg.

Not since 1991 has anyone rolled up their sleeves and counted fish in and around the river.

In 1999, the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association launched a $70,000 survey with biologist Katherine Cumming. But the survey only asked people what, if anything, could improve fishing at the river. There was no number crunching and to this day, the decade-old study is referred to when talking about char in the area.

So to paint an updated picture of the char population in the Sylvia Grinnell, the HTA and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans approved Dicks’ request to study char populations in Nunavut.

David Ell, the chair of the Amarok HTA, says he supports Dicks’ efforts.

Dicks is one of six northern research chairs with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. A portion of a $1.15 million grant is funding the study. If results are favorable this summer, Dicks hopes to continue his work for two more years.

“The [causeway flats] is an area with continued subsistence fishing with traditional gill nets. That, combined with the growing [human] population, angling, sport fishing and the unique way fish move in and out with the tides, makes the area really interesting from a scientific point of view,” Dicks said.

Other scientific studies suggest char is susceptible to over-fishing. Dicks would not say this is true of south Baffin.

“I can’t say this population is in trouble until we get all the information,” he said.

Dicks’ stressed his study has nothing to do with the Amarok HTA’s attempts to close the Sylvia Grinnell River to fishermen and boats this summer. However, the data will clearly be helpful to the HTA.

Gallagher began gathering data on July 2. Fishermen have agreed to let him poke and probe their catches. They’ve also offered knife-sharpening services and Inuktitut lessons.

In return, the fishermen get gutted fish and have their names entered in a weekly draw for camping gear.

Between battling mosquitoes and weighing the fish, Gallagher removes internal organs and earbones, which indicate the fish’s age. Nakashook and other fishermen offer comments about unusual features, such as a blistery lesion spotted on one fish.

“I’ve never seen that,” said one wide-eyed woman. “It has an illness. I wouldn’t eat it.”

They find more than just fish: veils of seaweed, plastic bags and a loon have also found their way into the nets.

Gallagher packages the soft tissue samples into plastic bags. The items are stored in a DFO freezer before undergoing analysis in a laboratory at the University of Manitoba.

Several times during the summer, Gallagher will set up his own nets, called index nets. The size, shape and health of the fish he catches will be compared with those caught by local fisherman.

Traditional knowledge is also a big part of the study. Armed with a notebook and pencil, Gallagher and Nakashook are asking river-side anglers about their catches.

For this summer, the study is nearly over. Dicks arrives in Iqaluit in mid-August to visit the Bay of Two Rivers and Tarr Inlet with Gallagher to assesses them as sites for future studies.

In the meantime, elders and fishermen are encouraged to contact the HTA to add their knowledge.

“The more input we have, the better the solutions are going to be,” Dicks said.