Low capelin return in Labrador and Quebec affecting lives and ecosystem, says researcher

Changing capelinspawning behaviour over the last two decadesalong the coasts of Labrador andQuebec is affecting the lives of the locals who rely on the food sourceand creating a growing concern for the ecosystem, says one researcher.

"Some of the people I have spoke with are also commercial fishermen, so of course they're concerned about it from an economic and livelihood standpointwhere capelin directly impacts their income and their fishing enterprises," saidChelseaBoaler, a PhD student at the Marine InstitutestudyingcapelininLabradorand Quebec.

Boaleris visiting multiple coastalcommunities across Labrador and Quebecto gather data about the tinyfish, which she says is of utmost importance to the food chain. Fish stocks have been declining during thespawning season, where data is showing less return each year.

While Northern Labrador has no commercial fishing industry for capelin, Boaler saidmost locals have a subsistence relationship with the fish catching and drying them for food during the winter months and alsotraditions where families would make a day out of catching the fish during spawning season.

Compared to Southern Labrador where commercial fishing for capelin is prevalent, northern residents are more worried about other animalsin the capelin food chain such as cod, salmon, seals and whales.

"They're not spawning in a way that we're used to seeing. So basically what people are noticing in Labrador is that they're spawning later in the summer, there are not as many coming to shore," Boaler said.

"They do feel that they may be potentially spawning in offshore locations, which we don't really know a whole lot about, and that when they do come they'renot as plentiful as they used to be."

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Boaler said the delayedspawning season in capelin began around the same time as the fall of the cod stocks in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The shift is similar across Labrador, she said, so it's difficult to pinpoint just one issue as to why the fish's spawning behaviour has changed.

However, Boelar said temperature changemay be one of many reasons forthe delayed spawning season. The DFO is working diligently on the island portion of the provinceto figure out the direct cause ofthe fish's behaviour shift, she said.

"I know they're looking a lot at the actual food source for capelin. So [they're] looking at zooplankton and phytoplanktontrends over the last few decades,they're also looking at temperature and they're also looking at wind direction," she said.

"So that's ongoing work that's being done on the island and could be correlated to the Labrador region as well, and hopefully that type of work will expand into Labrador over the coming years."

Capelin is a support food for the greater ocean ecosystem, Boalersaid, and plays an important role in transferring energy from the lower trophic levels to the larger trophic levels. Further, other animals that rely on capelinfor a primary food source are also showing some behavioural changes.

"That's really the worry I guess, is that if capelin are removed or no longer play that role in the ecosystem that it could potentially have wide ranged consequences for those larger species," she said.

"Cod for example, in some areas they're seeing more jellyfish in their stomach, they're seeing more sculpins, what they call bottom feed which is just a muddy mess in their stomach so you can't really tell what it is, rocks and even noticed some cannibalism in cod as well."

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