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Commercial and exploratory fisheries for Arctic Char, Salvelinus alpinus, provide significant economic opportunities for Nunavummiut in several Nunavut communities. Having an accurate understanding of the weight of the Arctic Char that are harvested is important for tracking harvest and for understanding how biological parameters may be changing over time as a result of exploitation and/or climactic and environmental changes. Unfortunately, most fish enter the processing plants as dressed (gills and viscera removed) and therefore conversion factors have to be applied to reconcile whole (round) weight from dressed weight. Here, we provide an updated conversion factor based on linear regression for Arctic Char from the Halokvik River (locally known as 30 Mile) near the community of Cambridge Bay.

We set out to examine possible links between climate warming and increases in mercury concentrations ([Hg]) in landlocked Arctic char (S. alpinus) in the High Arctic. Mercury concentrations vary regionally and have remained constant or increased slightly in landlocked char in lakes on Ellesmere Island and Cornwallis Island over a 12-16 year period. This, despite declining industrial mercury emissions in North America. Therefore, we hypothesized that climate warming might increase the input of mercury from catchments through permafrost melt, leading to greater associated body burden of adult char.

Temporal trends and climate related parameters affecting the fate of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were examined in landlocked Arctic char from four lakes in the Canadian Arctic. Among biological parameters, lipid content was a key factor explaining the concentration of most POPs in Arctic char. Legacy PCBs and OCPs generally showed declining trends of concentrations in Arctic char, consistent with past restriction on uses and emissions of POPs. However, increases in lake primary productivity (measured as chlorophyll a) exerted a dilution effect on POPs concentrations in Arctic char.

The purpose of this study is to examine trends over time of mercury and other trace elements, as well as legacy and new persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in landlocked Arctic char collected annually from lakes near the community of Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island (Amituk, Char, North, Small, and Resolute) and in Lake Hazen in Quttinirpaaq National Park on Ellesmere Island. The project is also examining links between climate warming and increases or decreases in mercury concentrations in landlocked char. Sampling of water and Arctic char was aided by local people between 2005 and 2007. Many scientific publications have been produced from this project, and results have been discussed in the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report III (2013): Persistent Organic Pollutants in Canada's North, Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report III (2012): Mercury in Canada’s North, and the Synopsis of Research Conducted under the 2015–2016 and 2014-2015 Northern Contaminants Program.

Contained within the 4th Edition (1974) of the Atlas of Canada is a set of nine maps showing the ranges of principal commercial freshwater fish including walleye and sauger, white bass, northern pike, yellow perch, arctic char, lake sturgeon, lake whitefish, lake trout and rainbow smelt.

The 1 cm resolution vegetation digital height model was extracted using a bare earth model and digital surface model (DSM) derived from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery acquired from a single day survey on July 28th 2016, in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The mapping product covers 525m2 and was produced by Canada Centre for Remote Sensing /Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation. The UAV survey was completed in collaboration with the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) for northern vegetation monitoring research.

For more information, refer to our current Arctic vegetation research:

Fraser et al; "UAV photogrammetry for mapping vegetation in the low-Arctic" Arctic Science, 2016, 2(3): 79-102. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/AS-2016-0008

The 0.34 cm resolution orthomosaic was created from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery acquired from a single day survey, July 28th 2016, in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Five control points taken from a Global Differential Positioning System were positioned in the corners and the center of the vegetation survey. The orthomosaic covering 525m2 was produced by Canada Centre for Remote Sensing /Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation. The UAV survey was completed in collaboration with the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) for northern vegetation monitoring research.

The 1 cm resolution digital surface model (DSM) was created from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery acquired from a single day survey, July 28th 2016, in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Five control points taken from a Global Differential Positioning System were positioned in the corners and the center of the vegetation survey. The DSM covering 525m2 was produced by Canada Centre for Remote Sensing /Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation. The UAV survey was completed in collaboration with the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) for northern vegetation monitoring research.

On insular Newfoundland, the Arctic Hare reaches the southernmost limit of their distribution and are typically found in mountainous areas where elevation and climate have created an arctic-like landscape therefore making it an important herbivore species within the Tundra/Barrens ecosystem. A quadrat-based survey is being used to track the park population of Arctic hare during winter, in both low and high quality hare habitats. Eight permanent plots are sampled every 2-3 years (weather dependent) using snowmobiles equipped with GPS. The number of individuals observed in each quadrat is recorded.

This map shows the location of the Arctic physiographic regions which include the Innuitian Region, the Arctic Lowlands and the Arctic Coastal Plains.