Biologists assess clam harvest for impact

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is counting the number of clams in Frobisher Bay.

Biologists are diving into the chilly waters of Frobisher Bay, taking pictures of Arctic sea beds and taking stock of the clams. DFO wants to know if the commercial clam harvest in the area is affecting the shellfish population.

"We need to know how many are there so that we can set quotas on the fisherman, so that we don't overharvest and completely wipe out the stocks," says Tim Siferd, a DFO biologist.

Siferd says in the past few years, interest has grown in commercial clam fishing in Nunavut. To keep it viable, however, will take more information.

"We want to have a fishery that is sustainable many years to come so we need to know the population, recruitment, spawning, and all those kinds of things so we'd be able to manage the fishery," he says.

Siferd says it will take several years to assess the number of clams in Frobisher Bay.

He says DFO will also go to Qikiqtarjuaq this year to assess the clam population there.