Table of Contents

  1. Publication
  2. Summary of Findings
  3. Wild food is safe to eat
  4. Most plastics in Nunatsiavut are from local sources
  5. Suliatsamut sivukkatet
  6. Ununningit palâstikkisajait Nunatsiavummi nunalimmit piKattajut

In 2018, Max Liboiron (Associate Professor, Memorial University) and Liz Pijogge (Northern Contaminants Researcher, Nunatsiavut Government) began a comprehensive, community-based plastic pollution monitoring project in Nunatsiavut, northern Labrador. Their research design is based on community research priorities, emphasizing the monitoring of plastics in Inuit food webs. Arctic char and Ringed seals are the primary species being monitored, as well as surface water, shorelines, ice, and snow. This project is expanding to include birds and heavy metals.

Data is owned and controlled by the Nunatsiavut Government and publications occur only after community review. This project is funded by the Nunatsiavut Government, the Northern Contaminants Program, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, CINUK, POLAR Canada, Memorial University, and ArcticNet.

What does a good research partnership look like? Liz Pijogge, Northern Contaminants Researcher for the Nunatsiavut Government and Dr. Max Liboiron, professor at Memorial University, tell the story of how they met, how they do research together, and how it’s a model of capacity “sharing” instead of “capacity “Building” to conduct plastic pollution research in Nunatsiavut.

This work is featured in niKet (food), a short, documentary episode in a series about Indigenous culture in Newfoundland and Labrador on CBC Gem.

If you are collecting samples as part of the community freezer or hunter research programs, follow the links for instructions for collecting guts and gathering feathers from samples.

Publication

Pijogge, Liz; Onalik, Joseph; Flynn, Mel; Jarause, Wilson; Lidd, Annie; Angnatok, Ethan; Jararuse, Josephine; Semigak, Lawrence; Lidd, Sukattai; Semigak, Tyriekah; Merkuratsuk, Siegfried; Semigak, Susie; Lyall, Susie Debbie; Semigak Lidd, Sarah; Pilgrim, Lauren; Semigak, Chesley; Lyall, Darrel; Haye, Emma; Onalik, Lena; Pamak, Carla; Saunders, Michelle; Merkuratsuk, Joseph; Merkuratsuk, Jenny; Angnatok, Pauline; Ikkusek, William; Michelin, Wilson; Maggo, Richard; Solomon, Shawn; Kohlmeister, Simon; Dwyer-Samuel, Frederic; Ortenzi, Kate; Gleason, Amber; Anderson, Matthew; Houde, Magali; Martinez-Levasseur, Laura; Barbel, Heloig; McCarney, Paul; Bond, Alex; Liboiron, Max. (2024). Nain On The-Land Workshop 2022: What We Said. Nunatsiavut Government; Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR), Memorial University; Natural History Museum.

Summary of Findings

More detailed report coming soon!

Wild food is safe to eat

  • The number of Arctic char and Ringed seals that ingested plastics and the number of plastics they ingested are small.
  • We checked 288 Char for plastics, and found 78 of them (27%) had eaten at least one plastic. Nearly half of those plastics were the size of a piece of dust, with an overall average size of 2.5 milimeters: the size of half a grain of rice.
  • Of the 127 Ringed seals we studied, 44 ate plastics (35%), with similar sized plastics to Char.
  • We also looked at 33 Turbot from the commercial fishery by Makkovik and Hopedale, and found that only three of them ate one plastic each (9%).
  • In comparison, having your plate of food out on the kitchen table can attract many, many more dust-sized plastics that float onto your plate from regular house dust compared to what these animals are eating in the water.

Most plastics in Nunatsiavut are from local sources

  • There are more plastics closer to permanent communities, and within Makkovik the amounts are highest near wharves.
  • The highest concentration of plastics in surface water in Nunatsiavut is near base camp in the Torngats, likely due to spills coming from activities there.
  • Cigarette butts, food packaging, and fishing gear are the most common plastics near communities and places where people go out.
  • You can reduce plastics in the environment by not littering garbage while out on the land and water.

Suliatsamut sivukkatet

  • Tamakkua numarangit IKalutuinnanut ammalu Natsinut nigiKattajangit palâstikkisajannik ammalu numarangit palâstikkisajannik nigiKattajangit mikijovut
  • TakunialaukKugut 288 IKalutuinnanit ilinganiKajunut palâstikkisajannik, ammalu napvâlaukKugut 78-nanit (27%) nigisimavut atautsimillonet palâstikkisajannik. Kanitangani apvangit taikkuningat palâstikkisajait anginiKasimajut ilangita pujumit, ilonnâgut anginiKasimajut 2.5 milimetersitut: anginiKajumut apvangata rice-imik.
  • Taikkunangat 127 Natsinit Kaujisasimajattinit, 44 nigisimajut palâstikkisajannik (35%), atjigigijangita anginigijangit palâstikkisajait taikkunangat iKalutuinnanit.
  • Takunialaugivugut 33 Natânnavannit taikkununga aullaiKattajunut Makkovimmiunut ammalu Hopedale-immiunut, ammalu napvâlaukKugut kisiani pingasut nigisimajut palâskkisijannik atunik (9%).
  • Atjigengitonninganik, pogutaKalluni niKinik sâmi pigumaliaKittisisok unuttunik, pujugiallanik-anginiKajunut palâstikkinik pogutannoKattajunut illumituinnak pujunganit atjigilungita taikkununga omajunut nigijanginnut imânejunit.

Ununningit palâstikkisajait Nunatsiavummi nunalimmit piKattajut

  • PitaKaluavuk palâstikkisajannik Kaniluamut nunagijaunginnatunut, ammalu iluani Makkovimmi ununningit angiluat Itsaviup saniani.
  • PitaKaluavuk palâstikkisajannik imaup Kângani iluani Nunatsiavummi avani Kanitangani aullâsimapvimi iluani Tongakuni, tamannauluakKotuk asikkituKasimammat pisimajunit pinianniujunit taikani.
  • Sikarevinet, niKinut pongit, ammalu oganniatet piKutingit atuttauluaKattavut palâtikkisajait nunalet Kanitanginni ammalu taikkununga iniujunut inunnut aullavigiKattajanginnut.
  • IkilliumititsigajakKutit palâstikkisajannik avatimmut igitsituinnaKattangikuvit igitagatsanik nunameliguvit ammalu imânegalaliguvit.
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