Wwf canada arctic program

Wildlife doesn't recognize borders, and these seas shared by Canada, Russia and the United States are a perfect opportunity for Arctic collaboration. Privacy policy.

News Stories Publications The Circle. Arctic Species How we work. Places Newsroom. Our ambition Our work. Get involved Latest Knowledge hub. Visit website Donate. Read more. Preventing polar bear conflict in Canada In the community of Arviat, WWF supports a polar bear patrol and pilot projects with food storage containers, solar-powered electric fencing and diversionary feeding stations. Promoting renewable energy WWF is advocating for renewable energy, and piloting renewable solutions with some Arctic communities.

Supporting local voices on caribou in Canada Working with northern communities in the Arctic by providing resources and expertise to ensure that community viewpoints on conservation issues are heard in decision-making processes impacting caribou habitat. Consisting of deep ocean covered by drifting pack ice and surrounded by continents and archipelagos around the Earth's North Pole, the Arctic is the planet's largest and least fragmented inhabited region. Thawing permafrost is already making things difficult for people and species in the Arctic.

But as TOM ARNBOM writes, if thawing continues and causes the release of methane from the ground, the climate crisis will escalate dramatically and we will feel the effects globally. Privacy policy. Some have looked to mineral exploration, while others have focused on traditional art. But increasingly, communities are looking to the sea.

The survey, which combined underwater video with traditional and commercial harvesting methods, will serve as the foundation for the development of a commercial fishery.

Species like Icelandic scallops, sea cucumbers, green sea urchins and blue mussels all call the frigid waters of Hudson Bay home. The video surveys will be used to develop an artificial intelligence—based tool to estimate abundance, while biological sampling will measure important nutritional and life cycle data.

Local harvesters see this potential seafood harvest as a way to address food insecurity at home while supplementing the local economy through sales to other parts of Canada and across the world.

Over the next year, WWF—Canada will undertake more surveys around Sanikiluaq and begin surveys for crab and shrimp in the Hudson Strait with the community of Kinngait. It will also begin surveys for whitefish inland from eastern Hudson Bay with partners in the community of Arviat. These are early days yet for the surveys in these three Nunavut communities, but residents are hopeful. Future commercial fisheries will build not only on this research, but on the accumulated ancestral knowledge of harvesters.