Ringed seals (Phoca hispida) are harvested annually in Arviat and Resolute (Nunavut), Sachs Harbour (Northwest Territories) and Nain (Labrador) with the help of the communities in the context of an environmental monitoring program. Samples of meat, blubber, liver and kidney are collected for inorganic elements and organic contaminants analyses along with a variety of biological/life history parameters measurements such as age, length, weight, body condition, stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon, blubber thickness, and lipid content. Data have been collected since 1991, but mostly since 2004, and this project is ongoing.
Supplemental Information
The Northern Contaminants Program (NCP, https://www.science.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/h_7A463DBA.html) was established in 1991 in response to concerns about human exposure to elevated levels of contaminants in wildlife species that are important to the traditional diets of northern Aboriginal peoples. Early studies found a wide variety of substances, many of which had no Arctic or Canadian sources, but which were, nevertheless, reaching unexpectedly high levels in the Arctic ecosystem.
The Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN, https://www.ccin.ca/) and the Polar Data Catalogue (PDC, https://polardata.ca/) have been developed over the past two decades through collaborative partnerships between the University of Waterloo and numerous government, university, and private organizations to provide the data and information management infrastructure for the Canadian cryospheric community. The PDC is one of Canada’s primary online sources for data and information about the Arctic and is Canada's National Antarctica Data Centre.
Polar Data Catalogue Canadian Cryospheric Information Network Metadata Record: https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/PDCSearch.jsp?doi_id=10780
Supporting Projects:
Northern Contaminants Program (NCP)