Science Advisory Report 2013/051
Update assessment of the Cambridge Bay Arctic Char Fishery, 1960 to 2009
Summary
- Arctic Char in the Cambridge Bay region of Nunavut is a valuable resource that has been harvested commercially since 1960.
- Trends in age, fork length, round weight and condition data from commercial fish samples were evaluated and indicate that the commercial fishery has had little impact on char from the Ekalluk, Paliryuak (Surrey), Halovik (Thirty Mile), Lauchlan (Byron Bay) and Jayco river stocks that make up the Cambridge Bay Arctic Char fishery.
- Current levels of harvest are likely sustainable. Low risks of over exploitation are predicted for the next 10 years at these five locations if current rates of harvest remain unchanged.
- Ellice River was last fished in 1999. The response of char to the Ellice River fishery, as indicated by trends in age data, may indicate a moderate risk of over-exploitation if historic rates of harvest were to recommence.
- Abundance estimated from weir enumeration data are severely outdated. Indices of abundance using fisheries catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) data are not available for the Cambridge Bay commercial Arctic Char fisheries. Consecutive weir enumerations and annual site-specific fishing effort data would allow a more comprehensive assessment of fishery impacts.
This Science Advisory Report is from the January 27-28, 2010 on Cambridge Bay Arctic Char. Additional publications from this meeting will be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science Advisory Schedule as they become available.
Accessibility Notice
This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.
- Date modified: