Temporal trends of mercury and halogenated organic compounds (legacy and emerging) in three beluga populations landed at Hendrickson Island NT, Sanikiluaq NU and Pangnirtung NU

The program is currently undergoing a transition with new leadership and team members that will work together to develop a cohesive plan to support the main objectives of the program that closely align with the needs of the NCP and community partners. The overarching objective of this project is to monitor contaminant levels in three beluga populations to assess spatial and temporal trends in mercury, and organic halogenated compounds (including legacy and new compounds). Further, we plan to strengthen the programs and partnerships with the communities to ensure a solid platform from which to grow. This will support building a holistic or ecosystem based approach to data collection that is inclusive of Indigenous knowledge and involves multidisciplinary research focused on belugas and their supporting ecosystem. With the development of solid long-term contaminant datasets we can begin to bridge knowledge centres and assess climate change impacts on ecosystems to better our understanding of contaminant trends in context with ecosystem shifts and emission trends.