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Arctic Science 2000 - Crossing Borders: Science and Community
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, Sept 21-24 2000
American Association for the Advancement of Science & Yukon Science Institute

Contaminants in Inland Arctic Fisheries: Partnering Iñupiat Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science

The potential importance of contamination in arctic ecosystems by several types of contaminants, (heavy metals, radionuclides and synthetic organochlorines), has become increasingly important as we learn more about the mechanisms of transport, pathways of accumulation in food webs, and the extent of exposure among subsistence arctic communities. The two western scientists on this project (JF and SA-G) have focused research on fish that are part of the subsistence harvest in part because of the concern among arctic residents about potential implications of contaminants in traditional foods. This project seeks to explore the factors that contribute to contaminant concentrations in tissues of two fish species often taken as part of the subsistence harvest (least cisco: Coregonus sardinella: iqalusaaq, and Arctic grayling: Thymallus arcticus: sulukpaugaq), and two fish species at the top of the aquatic food chain (lake trout: Salvelinus namaycush: iqaluaqpak and burbot: Lota lota: tittaaliq). These studies begin, for reasons of simplicity, with a focus on lake ecosystems; contaminant distributions and food web relationships using paired lakes, in which one member of the pair is connected with marine contaminant pools via fluvial linkages and biotransport by least cisco populations ("open"), and the other member of the pair is landlocked with no outlet ("landlocked").

Close coordination with local communities is designed to ensure that our project objectives are useful and attainable, our project design is robust, and the execution of our work is efficient. As a group, we are engaged in reciprocal education on the general topic of ecology, distribution, and contaminant concentrations in whitefish, grayling, and their predators. This project is designed to link our scientific approach (hypothesis testing) with Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom (TEKW) , to the mutual benefit of practitioners of both ways of knowing. In essence, we are forging a collaboration based on collaboration and reciprocity to integrate these two spheres of knowledge.

We initiated our studies with the help of the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC) by identifying elders (WM, JN, and JK) who are acknowledged experts in whitefish ecology. BASC also provided a translator (MA) who had worked extensively on projects involving subsistence fisheries. In our initial meeting in February we shared our interests, goals, and objectives and discussed priority issues within the communities, and when, where, and how to sample inland fish. In summer 2000, field work was initiated by joining forces to sample the fish in the lakes where two of us (JN and MA) have subsistence camps. Two undergraduate students (Ithaca College) and one graduate student (Oregon State University) were also part of our team. We believe that working together in this manner will provide the most effective and meaningful bidirectional exchange of ideas, approaches and information.

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