Parker's Brook Arctic Char

The CURRA collaborated with partner Sam Elliott and a group of citizens (Save our Char Committee) who were concerned about a stock of arctic char in Parker's Brook, a river that runs into Pistolet Bay. CURRA team member Ian Fleming recruited Craig Purchase, a new faculty member in Biology, to work on the project. A form and flyer were developed and distributed to recreational char fishers. The flyer explained the research and asked fishers to collect and turn in heads of char to the Department of Fisheries (DFO) for DNA analysis and identification. The collected heads and some whole char were analyzed this winter. Financial support was provided by the local DFO office. Michelle Caputo developed a survey tool for recreational fishers to explore the state of the resource and collect their views on relevant conservation initiatives.

Researchers and Partners