Base de données de recherche des TNO

Régions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

étiquettes: physical sciences, traditional knowledge, beluga whale, marine mammals, parasites

Objectif(s): To assess the health of the beluga population (body condition, abnormalities, parasites) in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region; and to compare results to other marine mammal populations in the Arctic and beluga elsewhere.

Description du projet: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.4667. The objectives of this project are: 1) to assess the health of the ISR beluga population (body condition, abnormalities, parasites); 2) to test for food borne parasites in beluga in the ISR (Toxoplasma, Trichinella); and, 3) to compare results to other marine mammal populations in the Arctic and beluga elsewhere. The research team weigh, measure, and systematically examine internal organs of harvested beluga for grossly visible abnormalities, and collect tissues for microscopic examination (histopathology). Blood samples are collected, usually from the heart, as well as tissue samples (meat, tongue, diaphragm, heart, brain, lung, etc.), for food borne parasites. The research team have to use special tests for Toxoplasma in beluga samples due to the high amounts of fat in the blood. Additionally, the team use the most sensitive test possible for the presence of Toxoplasma in the tissues of belugas, which is the sequence specific magnetic capture DNA extraction and real time technique. The team are the only lab in Canada performing this test on wildlife and it is the new European Food Safety Authority gold standard. The research team will continue to give presentations at Fisheries Joint Management Committee meetings and at the Inuvialuit Final Agreement Research Day (on invitation). The team are working with Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, and public health and wildlife officials in the North to develop appropriate Knowledge Translation materials on the risks of toxoplasmosis in beluga for public health. The research team also provide annual updates through the Polar website of the Aurora Institute as part of the NT research permit, and provide reports to the Fisheries Joint Management Committee, the Inuvialuit Game Council/ Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk Hunters and Trappers Committees, and to DFO. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 1, 2020 to July 15, 2020.