{"id":9015,"date":"2018-03-21T14:58:03","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T18:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=9015"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:34:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T20:34:36","slug":"recharging-northern-energy-and-fish-resources","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/recharging-northern-energy-and-fish-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Recharging Northern Energy and Fish Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n \n \n \n \n
\n\n
<\/div>\n \n
\n
\n\n

\n Recharging Northern Energy and Fish Resources\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

There\u2019s a whole different energy in the North, and it has nothing to do with the spirit of the Klondike. Northern Canada is ultra-energy intensive, but it\u2019s disconnected from Canada\u2019s electricity generating infrastructure. Local power stations keep the lights on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for the disconnect: geography. If Canada\u2019s territories were a country, they would be the world\u2019s seventh largest \u2013 behind Australia. Yet the population is less than Sudbury\u2019s. With few rate-payers, tapping into the southern grid is prohibitively expensive. So costs remain high and fuel is imported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renewable energy promises independence and lower costs, but there are unique challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a dearth of knowledge on renewable energy in the North,\u201d says Alexandra Mallett. The professor at Carleton\u2019s School of Public Policy and Administration co-authored theReport on the State of Alternative Energy in the Arctic <\/em>with David Cherniak, Vincent Dufresne, Lawrence Keyte, and Carleton\u2019s Stephan Schott. Funded by Polar Knowledge Canada, it\u2019s an overview of northern renewable energy projects.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cStudies had looked at potential, but we were asked to show what\u2019s happening on the ground. It brings it in one place: a policy-maker in Whitehorse can see what\u2019s out there now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The research team worked with the Arctic Energy Alliance to gather information, and participated in the Northwest Territories Energy Charrette, a collaborative planning process with communities, governments, NGOs, experts and industry to develop energy strategy. It helped them understand what was most important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA common thread was a northern perspective. A community would have study `X\u2019 done, and it would use assumptions from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado . . . People wanted northern data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy Demand is Key<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The social context is also unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen studying energy, there\u2019s a bias toward supply — a sexiness to infrastructure — but northerners said we needed to look at demand. Many northerners don\u2019t own their home. For landlords, it\u2019s not in their interest to make upgrades if a tenant is paying for electricity. Tenants don\u2019t care if they\u2019re wasting energy, if utilities are included. We wanted to look at reducing demand, not just increasing supply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That abundance of rental and public housing relates to another issue: a lack of opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cTraining \u2013 developing skills — was important,\u201d Mallett says. \u201cIn Fort MacPherson, they wanted a local biomass source rather than an imported one, because it creates jobs. Diesel won\u2019t go away, but people are interested in hybrid systems, and how renewable energy can create opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Job creation is a challenge throughout the North. It\u2019s not only because of infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Northwest Passage thaws, possible commercial fisheries emerge, but ensuring they\u2019re sustainable demands collaboration and capacity building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department of Fisheries and Oceans can\u2019t provide the same data they do on the east and west coasts. They can\u2019t be there regularly,\u201d says Schott, who researches fisheries near Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, on King William Island.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

\u201cThey do a test fishery every few years to see if it might be sustainable, but you don\u2019t get much more data than that. They can\u2019t have people in every community. It\u2019s very remote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gjoa Haven has had small-scale commercial fisheries, but they fizzled out. Now, they want a fishery that\u2019s economically viable, but won\u2019t interfere with subsistence. So the local hunting and trapping organization engaged southern scientists to help them better understand the size, life cycle and genetics of fish stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They needed to know it fish they see in one area at one time of the year are the same fish they see elsewhere, at other times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identifying Fish Genetics <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Molecular geneticists from Queen\u2019s University are working with Schott on the Genome Canada-funded Towards a Sustainable Fishery for Nunavummiut<\/em>study. It\u2019s identifying the population\u2019s genetics to better understand migration and demographics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $5.6-million project has zeroed in on char and whitefish at the mouth of Back River, on Canada\u2019s mainland.  A traditional fishing area, a powerful current keeps the water open year-round. The food-rich swirl of fresh and salt water supports large fish in large numbers. The team consulted with Elders to determine if there are other ecological hot spots like it.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cThey understand where they grew up,\u201d Schott says, \u201cwhat their ancestors told them about that land. It\u2019s the last generation that really did that. They\u2019re transferring it to some extent to their children and grandchildren, and we\u2019re documenting their knowledge of hunting, wildlife and fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Science supplements traditional knowledge, and the community is building scientific skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the fishery started \u2013 and it would obviously be the community\u2019s decision \u2013 it would be an adaptive management system, where every year you ask: `How can we adjust quotas? Can we make them more sustainable? Should we reduce them? Not fish one year?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That\u2019s where capacity training comes in. Once we leave, the community can continue collecting data, and feeding it to DFO, who aren\u2019t there on a consistent basis. A fishery would likely start with existing, established quotas. We\u2019re building capacity to self-assess and sample fish; dissect them; test them; how they\u2019re related . . . then connect that data so they know how stocks are changing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a whole different energy in the North, and it has nothing to do with the spirit of the Klondike. Northern Canada is ultra-energy intensive, but it\u2019s disconnected from Canada\u2019s electricity generating infrastructure. Local power stations keep the lights on. The reason for the disconnect: geography. If Canada\u2019s territories were a country, they would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":9020,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13,31],"cu_story_tag":[1921,1925],"class_list":["post-9015","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_type-sustainability","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs","cu_story_tag-research"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/9015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/9015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98513,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/9015\/revisions\/98513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=9015"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=9015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}