Regions: Qikiqtaaluk Region
Tags: contaminants, mercury, traditional food
| Principal Investigator: | Macdonald, Colin R (4) |
| Licence Number: | 15732 |
| Organization: | Northern Environmental Consulting |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2015
|
| Issued: | Jul 24, 2015 |
| Project Team: | Colin Macdonald, Ed Reeves, Chris Yukon |
Objective(s): To obtain statistically valid numbers of samples of major traditional food items and to analyse them for chemicals of concern, including mercury, and naturally-occurring radionuclides.
Project Description: The objective of the study is to obtain statistically valid numbers of samples of major traditional food items and to analyse them for chemicals of concern, including mercury, and naturally-occurring radionuclides. The conclusions of this, and previous, food studies will be communicated to the community. Approximately 20 samples of moose or caribou, fish, and waterfowl will be obtained from community members and analysed by high resolution ICP/MS for 33 elements (including uranium), mercury by cold vapor-atomic absorption spectrometry and for major radionuclides (Pb-210, Ra-226 and Po-210) by high resolution methods. Additional data on animals harvested will include aging structures, sex, and general body condition. The data will be analysed using standard statistical techniques to determine outliers, averages and relationships with age and sex, if possible. Food sample collection, project coordination, communication of project objectives and results will be presented to the community at large. The project is led by the Deline Renewable Resource Council, who will be responsible for disseminating the results of the study to the leadership and others in the community. The consultant will be available for travel to the community to help communicate the results. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 27, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
