“We call it ‘nuna,’” says Mia Otokiak, gesturing to the ground covered in inch-high willow and moss. Nuna means “land” in Inuinnaqtun, and yet it means so much more in Inuit communities across Canada’s North. The nuna is where Inuit like Mia hunt, travel, and reconnect with their roots. In summer, when the nuna becomes […]
This past August, four Ocean Wise divers motored to a remote Arctic islet to conduct a BioBlitz survey. A BioBlitz is a snapshot of Canada’s biodiversity, recorded by scientists and citizen scientists, to mark the country’s 150th anniversary. As one of 35 Bioblitz events coordinated by the Canadian Wildlife Federation, and made possible in part […]
Arctic Field Notes: Narwhal Study
With only a short window of time to gather data, multiple teams from Ocean Wise spent their summer in the Arctic for ongoing research. Studies included the distribution of microplastics in Arctic waters; tagging and tracking narwhals, Greenland sharks and other Arctic species; physical oceanography; research to monitor communication between mother beluga whales and their […]
Big news for Canada’s Arctic! Tallurutiup Imanga, or Lancaster Sound, is located in the rugged northeastern region of Nunavut and is recognized internationally as one of the most significant ecological areas in the world. Ocean Wise welcomes the announcement by Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, establishing the Tallurutiup Imanga/Lancaster Sound National […]
Arctic Inspiration Prize Allows Ikaarvik to Expand
In 2013, we were honoured to become a Laureate of the Arctic Inspiration Prize for a program called Ikaarvik: Barriers to Bridges. The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre leads Ikaarvik, a program that works with Arctic youth to be the bridge between their communities and science and between generations within their communities. Youth identify important […]
We All Agree: We Need Our North
The Arctic is in the grip of unprecedented change and is warming at twice the rate of any other region in world. Fundamental threats such as man-made pollutants contaminating the marine food web and climate change, are giving rise to complex changes in Arctic weather, ocean currents, sea levels, and sea ice formation. These dramatic […]
Arctic Diving: Photo Highlights
By Jeremy Heywood, Vancouver Aquarium diving safety officer Saying farewell to Cambridge Bay did not mean the end of the work for the 2016 Nearshore Ecology Team. Upon our return to Vancouver we had stacks of dive gear clean and stow, receipts to add up, data to collate and images to sort. Over the course […]
Arctic Diving: Farewell Cambridge Bay
By Jeremy Heywood, Vancouver Aquarium diving safety officer Right on schedule, our colleagues John Nightingale and Eric Solomon, who had been travelling on the One Ocean Expeditions vessel Akademik Sergey Vavilov arrived in Cambridge Bay. We met them, said our hellos and discussed plans for the next few days, including setting up an Arctic sea […]
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