2022-2023 Temporal and Spatial Trends of Legacy and Emerging Organic and Metal/Element Contaminants in Canadian Polar Bears

In relation to the Blueprint section 7.5 Ecosystem-based monitoring and research, and under 7.5.3 Marine Ecosystems and 7.7 Selection of Species for Long-Term Monitoring, 7.7.3. Polar Bear, in polar bears from priority Canadian subpopulations (Hudson Bay), this project aims to:For polar bears within the two management zones WHB and SHB, in the 2022/23 fiscal year to continue or establish to monitor with increased resolution, the (retrospective) temporal trends and changes of NCP priority, new and emerging POPs and mercury (and other metals) that are currently regulated or under review for regulation (e.g. Stockholm Convention on POPs and Minamata Convention on Mercury).To use both scientific knowledge in examining the influence of diet/food web structure and trophic position (using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes and fatty acid profiles as ecological tracers), sex, age, lipid content, time of sample collection and climate change variables on POP and mercury temporal trends in Hudson Bay polar bears.To use Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and associated SIKU-derived data in combination with scientific knowledge to better understand polar bear and ringed seal diets and food web changes in relation to contaminant pattern and level changes over time, including information on seal habitat (polynyas, floe edges and breathing holes), gender, age and size/condition to answer questions such as whether the seal diet varies by habitat or gender, etc.To provide information to Hudson Bay Nunavut communities participating in the study, and other communities, on the levels, changes, fate and potential effects of POPs and mercury in polar bears.To archive the remaining Hudson Bay polar bear tissue samples, as well as tissues collected in northern Baffin Bay (for future contaminant monitoring), in Environment and Climate Change Canadas National Wildlife Specimen Bank (ECCC-NWSB), NWRC.