POLAR BLOG
INUIT HUNTERS AND SCIENTISTS ARE COLLABORATING TO RECORD ALARMING SHIFTS IN HUDSON BAY SEA ICE
Sea change on Hudson Bay
IINUIT HUNTERS from eastern Hudson Bay are working with scientists to document the changing environment. Keen observers who travel widely on the bay year-round, the hunters first noted unusual changes in the sea ice in the 1970s, when massive hydroelectric projects on Quebec rivers altered the flow of fresh water into James and Hudson bays. By the 1990s, they were sharing observations related to the changing climate. Megan Sheremata, a PHD student in the department of physical and environmental sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough and recipient of the 2017 Polar Knowledge Canada Scholarship, is helping to document that knowledge. Sheremata’s research is part of a broad collaboration that includes hunters, scientists and the Arctic Eider Society, which works with communities on Hudson Bay on sea ice research and education. So far, she has interviewed nearly 40 experts from Kuujjuarapik, Umiujaq and Inukjuak, in Arctic Quebec, and Sanikiluaq, on Nunavut’s Belcher Islands. “Our goal,” she says, “is to understand the cumulative impacts of hydro and climate change on the sea ice and water, and their effects on wildlife and on Inuit land use, lives and livelihoods.” Before the hydroelectric projects, the greatest flow of fresh water into James Bay (and then north into Hudson Bay) occurred during the spring melt. When the dams began operating, the maximum flow moved to mid-winter, when demand for electricity in Southern Canada and the northeastern United States is highest, and more water is directed through the generating stations. “Hunters immediately noticed the ice was more brittle [freshwater ice is less flexible than saltwater ice], and some described seeing it literally break behind their snowmobiles,” says Sheremata. “Seals, which normally float when killed in seawater and can be retrieved, were less buoyant in water with reduced salinity, and began sinking out of reach.” Hunters’ more recent observations of the changing climate include thinner ice and reduced sea ice area, cooler summers and warmer winters, and higher and less predictable winds. “People say that 15 or 20 years ago, winds of 150 km/h or more would occur only in the fall,” says Sheremata. “Now you can have windstorms at any time of year. That’s a concern for hunters travelling by snowmobile or boat and for communities, where high winds can damage buildings and services.” The hunters’ knowledge complements the physical sciences used to monitor salinity and sea ice in eastern Hudson Bay, says Sheremata. “Together, we can understand what these changes mean for the land, sea and wildlife that Inuit depend on.”