A lab coat decorated by Kluane First Nation Youth Councilor Jared Dulac.
A research collaboration between a University of Waterloo biologist and the Kluane First Nation is coming up with good news for the Yukon community — so far, the research team is finding extremely low levels of mercury in the fish.
Rapid climate change, high mercury levels in fish and unaffordable store prices are just some of the threats to food security in Canada’s northern communities. Members of the Kluane First Nation are working with Heidi Swanson, a University Research Chair in the Faculty of Science, to test fish mercury levels as part of a larger food security project.
Two First Nation youth visited the campus this week to learn more about the scientific testing done with 200 fish samples they collected and processed from Kluane Lake last summer. The trip is part of a desire to identify sustainable food sources for the northern community’s next generation. Northern communities are seeing population declines in traditional foods such as moose and sheep and are now looking for other food sources, like fish.
Read the full story by the Faculty of Science.