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Weir Enumerations and Capture-Mark-Recapture Estimates of Population Size for Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) from the Halokvik River, Nunavut

Across the Canadian North, Arctic Char, Salvelinus alpinus, are culturally important and critical for maintaining subsistence lifestyles and ensuring food security for Inuit. Arctic Char also support economic development initiatives in many Arctic communities through the establishment of coastal and inland commercial char fisheries. The Halokvik River, located near the community of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, has supported a commercial fishery for anadromous Arctic Char since the late 1960s. The sustainable management of this fishery, however, remains challenging given the lack of biological data on Arctic Char from this system and the limited information on abundance and biomass needed for resolving sustainable rates of exploitation. In 2013 and 2014, we enumerated the upstream run of Arctic Char in this system using a weir normally used for commercial harvesting. Additionally, we measured fish length and used T-bar anchor tags to mark a subset of the run. Subsequently, we estimated population size using capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods. The estimated number of Arctic Char differed substantially between years. In 2013, 1967 Arctic Char were enumerated whereas in 2014, 14,502 Arctic Char were enumerated. We attribute this marked difference primarily to differences in weir design between years. There was also no significant relationship between daily mean water temperature and number of Arctic Char counted per day in either year of the enumeration. The CMR population estimates of Arctic Char (those ≥450mm in length) for 2013 and 2014 were 35,546 (95% C.I 30,513-49,254) and 48,377 (95% C.I. 37,398-74,601) respectively. The 95% CI overlapped between years, suggesting that inter-annual differences may not be as extreme as what is suggested by the enumeration. The population estimates reported here are also the first estimates of population size for an Arctic Char stock in the Cambridge Bay region using CMR methodology. Overall, the results of this study will be valuable for understanding how population size may fluctuate over time in the region and for potentially providing advice on the sustainable rates of harvest for Halokvik River Arctic Char. Additionally, the results generated here may prove valuable for validating current stock assessment models that are being explored for estimating biomass and abundance for commercial stocks of Arctic Char in the region.

Simple

Date ( RI_366 )
2013-08-04
Date ( RI_367 )
2020-08-25
RI_409
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Kevin Jacobs ( Physical Scientist (Data) )
501 University Cres , Winnipeg , Manitoba , R3T 2N6 , Canada
RI_415
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Les Harris ( Aquatic Science Biologist )
501 University Cres , Winnipeg , Manitoba , R3T 2N6 , Canada
204-983-5143
Purpose
Enumerate and estimate population abundance of the upstream fall migration for Arctic char from the Halokvik River, NU
Status
completed; complété RI_593
Maintenance and update frequency
unknown; inconnu RI_543
NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords Version 6.0.0.0.0 NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords Version 6.0.0.0.0 ( RI_528 )
  • Fish
  • Aquatic Ecosystems
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Fish
  • Fisheries resources
DFO Areas Zones du MPO ( RI_525 )
  • Arctic Ocean
Use limitation
Open Government Licence - Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)
Access constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use limitation
None
Classification
unclassified; nonClassifié RI_484
Spatial representation type
textTable; texteTable RI_637
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Topic category
  • Biota
  • Inland waters
  • Oceans
Begin date
1981-08-14
End date
2016-09-10
Description
Halokvik River, Cambridge Bay region of Nunavut
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Supplemental Information

PARAMETERS COLLECTED:

Environmental data

Enumeration data

Biological data

Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) Model Parameters

CITATION LIST:

Les N. Harris, Brendan K. Malley, Christopher G. McDermid, Colin P. Gallagher, Jean-Sébastien Moore and Ross F. Tallman. 2020. Weir Enumerations and Capture-Mark-Recapture Estimates of Population Size for Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) from the Halokvik River, Nunavut. Canadian manuscript reports of fisheries and aquatic sciences (DFO) 3199.

Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:4326
Distribution format
  • CSV ( n/a )

RI_414
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Les Harris ( Aquatic Science Biologist )
501 University Cres , Winnipeg , Manitoba , R3T 2N6 , Canada
204-983-5143
OnLine resource
Weir Enumerations and Capture-Mark-Recapture Estimates of Population Size for Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) from the Halokvik River, Nunavut ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng

OnLine resource
Weir Enumerations and Capture-Mark-Recapture Estimates of Population Size for Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) from the Halokvik River, Nunavut ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;eng

OnLine resource
Dénombrements par fascine et méthodes de capture-marquage-recapture pour estimer la taille de la population de l’omble chevalier (Salvelinus alpinus) dans la rivière Halokvik, au Nunavutf Population Size for Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) from the Halokvik River, Nunavut ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;fra

OnLine resource
Biological Data ( HTTPS )

Dataset;CSV;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Capture mark-recapture model parameters ( HTTPS )

Dataset;CSV;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Daily counts ( HTTPS )

Dataset;CSV;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Data dictionary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Environmental data ( HTTPS )

Dataset;CSV;eng,fra

File identifier
bb2c7b2e-3732-4ca7-839a-480429eaa407 XML
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2025-02-06T14:19:56.47Z
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
RI_414
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Les Harris ( Aquatic Science Biologist )
501 University Cres , Winnipeg , Manitoba , R3T 2N6 , Canada
204-983-5143
 
 

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