Karen DunmallFisheries and Oceans Canada | DFO · Division of Arctic Research
Karen Dunmall
PhD
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66
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Introduction
Salmon are being caught in the Canadian Arctic, and they seem to be increasing in numbers. Follow the research at www.arcticsalmon.ca or www.facebook.com/arcticsalmon
Publications
Publications (66)
Pacific salmon appear to be expanding their range into Arctic ecosystems and may be acting as effective sentinels of climate change. Salmon harvests voluntarily reported through the Pacific Salmon Collection Program (PSCP) suggest recent increases in both the abundance and distribution of Pacific salmon in the Arctic over the past decade. In the Ca...
Distributional shifts of biota to higher latitudes and elevations are presumably influenced by species-specific physiological tolerances related to warming temperatures. However, it is establishment rather than dispersal that may be limiting colonizations in these cold frontier areas. In freshwater ecosystems, perennial groundwater springs provide...
The purposes of this guide are to assist in:
1. Differentiating among Pacific salmon, Atlantic Salmon, and char;
2. Identifying among the different kinds of Pacific salmon;
3. Identifying among the different kinds of char;
4. Identifying among the different kinds of juvenile Pacific salmon.
As the Arctic rapidly warms, sub-Arctic species such as the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are expected to shift their distributions into the Arctic, potentially facilitating interaction with native Arctic species. Here, the possible dispersal and establishment of Atlantic salmon are considered in Canadian Arctic fresh waters containing Arctic char...
Rapid climate change is altering Arctic ecosystems at unprecedented rates. These changes in the physical environment may open new corridors for species range expansions, with substantial implications for subsistence-dependent communities and sensitive ecosystems. Over the past 20 years, rising incidental harvest of Pacific salmon by subsistence fis...
Warming temperatures have added urgency to characterizing the thermalscapes and thermal tolerances of cold-adapted fishes in order to effectively manage and conserve such species. This is especially relevant at high latitude and high elevation streams, which are experiencing rapid environmental changes, yet are data-poor, remote, and difficult to a...
Climate change and development are shaping Arctic ecosystems in unprecedented ways intimately known to Inuit. To describe changes in aquatic habitats and species near Kinngait, Nunavut, researchers co-created a questionnaire with the Aiviq Hunters and Trappers Association and community technicians. Inuit knowledge, centered on experiences and perce...
Integration and coordination among monitoring programs are needed to better assess the impacts of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems. The use of common indicators and methods could facilitate this comprehensive understanding. We completed a systematic review of published marine research in the western Canadian Arctic from 1962 to 2021 to id...
The Hudson Bay Complex (HBC) is rapidly changing, which is impacting ecosystems and Northern Indigenous communities. To address a knowledge gap in understanding coastal ecosystem, a community-led coastal assessment was completed in four HBC communities to assess the biodiversity of fishes, invertebrates, and their habitats in a program called “Arct...
The Northern Hemisphere Pink Salmon Expert Group Meeting was held on October 2–3, 2022 in Vancouver, Canada, immediately preceding the International Year of the Salmon (IYS) Synthesis Symposium. The rapid expansion of pink salmon was the theme for the meeting, and experts came together to discuss the current state of knowledge for pink salmon. Spec...
Abstract When brought together, Indigenous and Western sciences offer holism that can strengthen research and monitoring, yet the practices and processes of bridging these sciences are not well understood. We sought to elucidate bridging through a systematic realist review of coastal and marine research and monitoring studies that use methods for g...
There is growing interest in co‐developing research projects that more fully address the priorities of Indigenous communities throughout the Canadian Arctic and beyond. However, details regarding collaborative methods are often not adequately described in the literature.
Here, we describe a process to remotely co‐create a questionnaire compiling In...
Rapid climate change occurring in the Arctic may affect the diet of ecologically and culturally important northern fish species. Here, a systematic literature review was completed for eight fish species found across the North American Arctic, with a focus on Inuit Nunangat, to identify major prey items, summarize feeding strategies, and highlight d...
In Canada, the participation of Indigenous communities in research and monitoring is growing in response to calls for partnerships and heightened interest in bridging Indigenous and Western science-based knowledge. Yet, as settler scholars, we have noted inconsistencies in the articulation and operationalization of community participation in peer-r...
Broad-scale changes in sea ice have been documented across the Arctic; however, less is known about sea ice decline at smaller scales, focused at high-priority areas such as marine protected areas (MPAs) or places identified as important by Indigenous Peoples. Here, we develop a small-scale application of assessing sea ice change using weekly sea i...
Climate change and biodiversity loss are twin crises that are driving global marine conservation efforts. However, if unaccounted for, climate change can undermine the efficacy of such efforts. Despite this, integration of climate change adaptation and resilience into spatial marine conservation and management has been limited in Canada and elsewhe...
Establishing a baseline of Arctic marine biodiversity is necessary for monitoring impacts of climate change in the vulnerable Canadian Arctic and protecting sensitive regions that are of significant importance to Inuit culture and socioeconomics. Under the goals of improving documentation of Arctic marine communities and creating a tool for assessi...
The distributional extent of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the North American Arctic is unresolved. While adult Pacific salmon have a recurring presence across the Alaskan North Slope and into the Canadian Arctic, it is uncertain if these fish are part of established Arctic populations, vagrants from outside sources reproducing unsuccessful...
Arctic marine ecosystems are changing, one aspect of which appears to be distributional expansions of sub-arctic species. For Arctic marine systems, there is limited occurrence information for many species, especially those found in restricted habitats (e.g., ice-covered, far north, or deep-water). Increasing observations through on-going Fisheries...
Rapid climate change is altering Arctic ecosystems and significantly affecting the livelihoods and cultural traditions of Arctic Indigenous peoples. In the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR), growing evidence suggests that climate change is altering marine environments. In this project we recorded and synthesized Inuvialuit knowledge of Pacific sal...
In conclusion, over the past 20 years, and particularly since 2011, almost all Pacific salmon species found in North America, with the exception of coho salmon, have increased in occurrence and geographic distribution in the Canadian Arctic. These species are also experiencing more extreme variations in harvests, with an increased
frequency of exc...
Effective management of freshwater fish habitat is essential to supporting healthy aquatic ecosystems and sustainable fisheries. In Canada, recent changes to the Fisheries Act enhanced the protection of fish habitat, but application of those provisions relies on sound scientific evidence. We employed collaborative research prioritization methods to...
Life-history and life-cycle models of Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) are developed to provide insight into production dynamics of northern Bering Sea Pink salmon. Arctic ecosystems, including freshwater and marine ecosystems in the northern Bering Sea, are warming at a rapid rate. Due to their short, two-year life cycle, Pink salmon are well...
Having the longest coastlines in the world and some of the largest freshwater ecosystems, Canada has a rich history of exploitation and stewardship of its marine and freshwater fisheries resources. For thousands of years prior to European settlement, Indigenous peoples across what is now Canada utilized and managed marine and freshwater fisheries t...
While salmon have been harvested for generations in some areas of the Canadian Arctic, salmon harvests are generally increasing across northern Canada. More species of salmon are being harvested in more places and in higher abundances in recent years. Accordingly, more northerners are eating more salmon. People new to salmon as food are now learnin...
Overview and synthesis of the present state of the Arctic Seas of Canada
Specific case studies in support of the main technical report 3344
A survey of coastal fishes was conducted in western Coronation Gulf in the fall of 2017 in order to assess community composition of nearshore fishes and identify their habitat associations. Fishes were collected at coastal sites in close proximity to the Rae (67°55' N and 115°20' W), and Coppermine (67°49' N and 115°05' W) rivers, near the communit...
Here the objective is to summarize changes in salmon abundance, distribution and species composition in subsistence harvests in Canadian Arctic since previous reviews (Stephenson 2006; Nielson et al. 2013; Dunmall et al. 2013). This information also contributes to the establishment of community-based monitoring as an effective method to detect rare...
There are many different kinds of salmon and char and many different local names for the same fish. Salmon and char species breed in fresh water but migrate to the sea to feed and grow. The external appearance of the same fish can look different depending on where and when they are harvested. In the sea, maturing salmon and char exhibit a ‘Silver P...
The Northwest Territories (NWT) is home to a diverse group of plants and animals. About 30,000 species are estimated to occur here. An important first step in safeguarding biodiversity is to increase our knowledge of each species and to provide a mechanism to monitor the conservation status of each species regularly. Monitoring the status ranks of...
The purposes of this guide are to assist in:
1. Differentiating among Pacific salmon, Atlantic Salmon, and char;
2. Identifying among the different kinds of Pacific salmon;
3. Identifying among the different kinds of char.
Warming temperatures may be influencing distributional shifts in the Arctic, yet understanding regarding the ecological implications of these shifts is limited. Vagrant Chum and Pink Salmon appear to be increasing in abundance and distribution in the Canadian Arctic, and could colonize new habitats. Substrate-spawning salmonids in the Arctic share...
We examined the assumption that landscape heterogeneity similarly influences the spatial distribution of genetic diversity
in closely related and geographically overlapping species. Accordingly, we evaluated the influence of watershed affiliation
and nine habitat variables from four categories (spatial isolation, habitat size, climate, and ecology)...
We used 20 microsatellite loci to compare genetic diversity and patterns of isolation-by-distance among three groups of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) from two physically distinct watersheds in western Alaska, USA. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that gene flow decreases as the complexity of the hydrographic system increases. Speci...
Farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, frequently escape from the aquaculture industry and interact with wild populations. The impact of these interactions on the wild populations will depend, in part, on differences in their performances. This study compared the swimming and cardiac performance of farmed salmon (Aquagen) with their founder populatio...
On wave-sheltered shores of the northeastern Pacific, the population size structure of Littorina sitkana varies with intertidal height, as larger snails are mostly found only in the upper intertidal. This pattern has been attributed to high predation rates by crabs (and perhaps fish) on large snails inhabiting low-intertidal areas; i.e., large snai...
Traditional approaches for assessing the effects of catch-and-release angling have focused either on hooking injury, mortality associated with different handling and environmental conditions, or biochemical indicators of short-term stress response and recovery. These methodologies do not permit the collection of real-time data on the sub-lethal eff...
We studied the effects of catch-and-release angling on rock bass Ambloplites rupestris, a small but common centrarchid species in North America. A field study of hooking injury and mortality was conducted in Lake Erie at a water temperature of 168C. We captured fish using one of four terminal tackle types: barbless worm, barbed worm, barbless jig,...
Although regulations prohibiting the use of natural baits are relatively common, new regulations specifically targeting the use of chemical attractants have recently been implemented. While no citeable evidence for these new regulations exists, they may have been promulgated due to a perceived increase in the risk of fish mortality from scented lur...
We studied the effects of catch-and-release angling on rock bass Ambloplites rupestris a small but common centrarchid species in North America. A field study of hooking injury and mortality was conducted in Lake Erie at a water temperature of 16°C. We captured fish using one of four terminal tackle types: barbless worm, barbed worm, barbless jig, a...