RESTRICTED Material in this report is not to be quoted without explicit permission FISHERIES RESEARCH BOARD OF CANADA ARCTIC UNIT Montreal, Que. Annual Report and Investigators' Summaries April 1, 1961 to March 31, 1962 H. D. Fisher, In Charge FISHERIES & OCEANS CANADA PECIIES T ()CEOS CANADA RESTRICTED LIBRARY 13IBUOTHEQUE • Material in this report is not to be quoted without 20() 'UM', STATION 7244 exPlicit_Permission OTTAWA, ON K1AO€ FISHERIES RESEARCH BOARD OF CANADA ARCTIC UNIT Montreal, Que. Annual Report and Investigators' Summaries April 1, 1961 to March 31, 1962 H. D. Fisher, In Charge " ' 1 ) ) I REPORT FOR 1961-1962 OF THE ARCTIC UNIT, MONTREAL, QUE. by H. D. Fisher, Scientist in Charge Research to establish a basis of information on aquatic productivity of northern Canada was continued from the Unit's temporary quarters at 505 Pine Ave. West, Montreal. Studies on marine mammal stocks on the Atlantic coast were intensified. Much effort is •going into the simple discovery of what aquatic resources, particularly the fishes which are relatively little known, occur in the arctic, and what the present growth rates are. From this work and from practical investigations designed to assist the growing number of arctic fishing and marine mammal hunting projects, a number of areas in which long-term basic studies on various aspects of production are desirable have indicated themselves. A swing to such studies from widespread surveys gradually is occurring and will probably continue. At the same time a degree of flexibility must be maintained in order to deal efficiently with the unexpected short-term demands for information which occur as the gradual opening up of the north continues. In all this work close liaison is maintained with • the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, under whose auspices largely development of exploitation of arctic aquatic resources is taking place. -2- Considerable time in 1961 went into preparation for a survey of àquatie biolOgy in the arctic islands in H1962 . Such« of the'reqUired fuel, supplies and equipment • was stored . at Resolute, Cornwallis Island, bY Department :of Transport .'Sealift from Montreal. 'Close liaison is maintained, through the Canadian Committee on Oceanography,'with the .Division of OceanOgraPhic Research of 'the Department:of Mines and Téchnidal Surveys and with the Board's Atlantid -Oceanographic Group, particularly - for Plankton•studies. Systematie,Samp1ing in one eeasOn over à very large area has become possible as a resUlt of this, from the. arctig to the'Atlantic coast. *. In 1961 a large amount of fresh water in the Yukon and Northwest.Territories waS opened to commercial fishing. .-The Unit 'assisted Departmental , officers in setting up a: system- of rotational fiàhing in:selected regions of the • to allow a' high rate of. exploitation fora given • region followed by a nfallown period to:enable stocks to recuperate. , * . Plan's, for erecting new and.permanent quarters for the west . end of 'Montreal Island progressed to the -Unit .on a stage where it is expected that . construction will begin . in 1962. The lease 'from MeGill University for . .present • quarters expires inAugust, 1963. • . • • . The Unitls , >50-foot research vessel "Calanus", working in northwest:Hudson Bay'and adjacent.areas to the north, and the 38-foot "Salvelinus" working along the western arctic coastline, were again wintered at Churchill, Manitoba and Aklavik, N.W.T. respectively. Fisheries Investigations Yukon Lake fisheries. With the opening up of Yukon lakes to commercial export fishing, limnological studies were begun on Laberge and Quiet Lakes, considered likely to have divergent characteristics. Sampling of fishes, mainly whitefish and lake trout, for growth, food and parasites, and limnological collections were carried out. A winter party followed the commercial fishing on Lake Laberge. Whitefish and lake trout were small (ay. 1.4 lb and 2.6 lb) but in good condition and free from Triaenophorus infestation. Frobisher Bay char studies. Field studies on arctic char of the Sylvia Grinnell water system were con- tinued as a biological check on the commercial, native and sports fisheries there. The commercial export quota of 10,000 lb round weight was taken in less than a week. No reduction in average size of char was apparent in the catch. Sampling carried out in the spawning area, Sylvia Grinnell Lake, in July when tides are low and access from the sea is blocked by falls at the mouth of the river, indicated that all of the sea-run variety over 45 cm in length present were potential spawners of the year. This, together with a very low percentage of potential spawners of the_year in catches.from the. sea Suggest•that mature . char:remain in the parent lake in a spawning' year. - _,Cambridge -Bay char studies.. Char studies were been at Cambridge Bay, - Victoria Island,* with.the initiation there of a icOmMercial'export,fishery based on the stock from 'the Greiner Lake system.- .Char . from Greiner Lake 'were - found •to attain_sexàarffiaturity at'9 years,-3 years. earlier than do- those.from . Frobisher.Bay. They also reach.their Ultimate size at18-or 19,..:about 2 . years earlier.tht.a.:do those from • Frobisher Bay. • . : • The Greiner. Lake system is not considered large . .;ehough to support a Stock for'continued commercial fishing. s' The Ferguson Lake-system.or•adjacent_Wellington Bay supports a more promising . 'fish stock, with anestimated potential Sustainectcommercial.take of . 40,000 . lb'of chat and the same weight of lake trout annually, . • • Cambridge Bay lake trout studies. Lake trout of .Greiner . Lake, which are taken by a native.fishery largely In the fall and winter after freeze-up, were examined in detail. Figure s . on•growth and-maturity Compare closely with thOse redorded. for Great.Bear Lake'. The largest trout . taken was •a female'Weighing 33 lb, aged about 30 years. .i . Spawning ocCurred:largely between August. 22 and September •3 1'earlier. than the char spawning which occurs after.freeze-up. - : Relict invertebrates in Greiner - Lake..- Certain invertebrates normally found in Salt Water were recbrded from Greiner Lake. The distribution of such species in fresh water is closely connected with the formation of proglacial lakes during and after the Pleistocene. Greiner Lake can be shown to have emerged from the sea comparatively recently, about 1,000 years ago. Shingle Point (Yukon) welfare fishery. A native fishery was organized at Shingle Point by the elfare Division of the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. Shingle Point encloses a long, narrow and shallow harbour on the coast west of the Mackenzie River. Fishing by sweep net and gill nets from July 6 to August 13 produced 11,000 lb of fish, mainly freshwater herring and inconnu. Specimens were collected for study, and data on catch per unit of effort were recorded. M.V. "Salvelinus"--exoloratory fishing. The "Salvelinus" continued exploratory fishing from Aklavik, working in the Tuktoyaktuk-Liverpool Bay-Husky Lakes region of Mackenzie District coastline. A number of hydrographic stations was occupied. Bottom fauna was scarce and numbers of fish scattered. True herring (Clupea harengus pallasi) were found in several locations, and evidence that spawning is local was obtained. Herring abundance in the inshore areas sampled was not great enough to suggest trawling or seining, but a type of weir is considered possible and will be tried next season. Analysis to date of "Salvelinus" collections have extended the range of 10 specieà Of marine fishes, and have produced the.first.Canadian record of the phylum Pogonophora '(Ibeard-worms"). APproximately 100 species ,of benthonic marine - invertebrates have:been recOrded tà ' . ; H Marine Mammal Investigations Harp seals. Biological observations made during an aerial inspection flight over moulting herds in late April and May by the Department of Fisheries led to the conclusion that an aerial photographic survey could be carried out of the entire moulting population of immatures and adults in 1962. Plans were made to carry this out in 1962 using two aircraft, one in the Gulf of , St. Lawrence and one off the east .coaàt of Newfoundland - , and Labrador.: . Aerial photographic ›coverage .to.date has - -. been carried OUt9nly'on whelping patcheà, for the west Atlantic stocks. The annual sampling:of southward migrants, from . the net fisheryat La Tabatiére, P.Q., was carried out'for ,a Check on age'composition. Stich an annual check is now . available.for the periOd 1952 to 1962. .Application of the , most recent reSults to a life table constructed last year - indicates that . the balanced annual catch by all agencies during the decade 1951-1961 should not have exceeded 200,000 Yoting - :seals, close_ to the figureof 180,000 calculated last . year. The actual Catch in fa:et haS Substantially exceeded this,. with the corresponding substantial decrease in stocks indicated by the aerial photographic survey of 1960. Harbour and grey seals. In view of the importance of these species as vectors of a major fish parasite, work was continued in an attempt to assess the present status of stocks in the Maritimes. Some field work on harbour seals in the Lockeport, N.S. area, where special attention has been given by the St. Andrews station to the incidence of the cod nematode Phocanema decipiens in fishes, confirmed general indications of bounty returns that there has been a decrease in the harbour seal population. Seals are still present at Lockeport but very difficult now to hunt. Experiments with 14-inch mesh nylon nets suggested further reduction would be possible with organized use of these. In June a careful check was made on the stocks of harbour and grey seals on Sable Island, 120 miles east of Halifax, when 572 grey seals and 549 harbour seals were counted, of all ages. Harbour seals were whelping, and a subsequent aerial survey in January, 1962 confirmed that grey seals also whelp there.