Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 23, 2026 By Jill Westerman Northern News Services Residents of Chesterfield Inlet are helping researchers monitor sea ice algae as part of an ongoing community-based project that also supports preparedness for potential marine oil spills in the region. The Algae Watch program, now in its second year, encourages residents to record observations using the SIKU app while they are travelling on the land and sea ice. Dr. Eric Collins, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, said the initiative is part of the larger GenICE2 project, funded by Genome Canada, which is studying how microbes respond to oil spills in Arctic marine environments. “This was the second year we ran it in Chesterfield Inlet,” Collins said. “We’re working with the Sapujiyiit Society and the HTO [hunters and trappers organization] there to do monitoring of the marine environment.” He said the community’s location at the entrance to the waterway leading to Baker Lake means vessels regularly travel through the area to serve Agnico Eagle’s Amaruq gold mine. “People in the town are quite worried about if there was an oil spill, what would happen then,” Collins said. To help involve residents, researchers created Algae Watch as a way to familiarize people with the SIKU platform while collecting observations from the ice. Developed by Inuit through the Arctic Eider Society, SIKU is a free mobile app and website that allows users to record observations while travelling on the land. Hunters can share GPS tracks, document wildlife sightings and report hazardous ice conditions for others in the community. Algae identification The project focuses on microscopic algae that grow on the underside of sea ice where it meets the ocean. Participants drill a hole through the ice and look for algae, which can appear as greenish or brownish discoloured snow. Although different species of algae are present, Collins said they cannot be distinguished by sight alone. “We determine which one it is through either a microscope or using DNA sequencing, which is what we use in my lab at the University of Manitoba,” he said. “Just looking at it, you can only tell that it’s algae.” Researchers have found algae during previous fieldwork, but observations have varied, he noted. “The very first time we went out… we found algae in the ice,” Collins said. “The follow-up report didn’t report any algae, so I think there’s a lot to be learned about when the algae is there and where it’s at.” He believes algae are likely more common in some coastal locations than others, and he noted that the area has not been extensively studied. Sea ice algae form the base of the Arctic marine food web. Collins said microscopic organisms — small crustaceans such as copepods, shrimp and worms — feed on the algae, followed by small fish, larger fish, and eventually marine mammals, including whales. “They’re a healthy part of the ecosystem,” he said. “If there was something toxic in the water, we would expect it to prevent them from growing, and then they wouldn’t be able to feed the rest of the ecosystem.” Community participants photograph what they find rather than collecting samples. The SIKU app automatically records the location of each observation, while project staff collect scientific samples separately for laboratory analysis. So far, researchers have not found evidence suggesting unreported oil spills in the area. “We haven’t seen anything like that,” Collins said. Funding required The GenICE2 project will continue for at least one more year, with researchers seeking additional funding beyond 2027. Collins said his team has worked in Chesterfield Inlet for five or six years, building relationships with the local hunters and trappers organization and the Sapujiyiit Society. Discussions are also underway about expanding similar work to other Kivalliq communities, including Coral Harbour and Naujaat. The research team is also conducting oil spill experiments at the Churchill Marine Observatory in Churchill, Man., where diesel fuel is introduced into controlled ice environments to study how naturally-occurring microbes break it down. “We saw that there are microbes that grow in response to the oil and help break it down, but it takes them a long time to do that,” Collins said. “If there was a real spill, we wouldn’t want to wait for them to do their work. We would want to intervene.” He added that responding quickly to a spill in Hudson Bay would be challenging because specialized oil spill response equipment is not currently stationed nearby. “In other parts, if you go to the Atlantic or the Pacific ports, they have a lot of equipment nearby in case of a spill,” Collins said. “But in Hudson Bay there isn’t that equipment nearby, so we would require the Coast Guard to kind of change their strategy.”
Community members help monitor Arctic sea ice algae in Chesterfield Inlet
