Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Aug 31/98) - After years of icy Arctic water diving, Glenn Williams of Tukturjuk Outfitting has surfaced with a number of business prospects that provide training opportunities and sustainable income options for Baffin Island residents.

Currently the only equipped certified diver and instructor in the area, Williams said he is in the process of training several Iqaluit and Broughton Island residents to dive.

Once they are certified, he said there would be a number of opportunities for business development including new commercial clam harvesting techniques.

As an alternative to dredging, the usual harvesting method in the Baffin region, Williams suggests local divers hand-pick the mature clams, thereby preserving and sustaining the beds for future harvests.

"Dredging is like clear-cutting. It takes everything...nobody is going to get rich from this but everybody can make a living," Williams, a longtime Northerner, said.

He also said he had already built up a steady clam clientele at Iqaluit Enterprises, a local business that carries wild meat and fish.

Having more trained local divers would open other new business doors as well, he said.

"There's a large recreational dive industry."

Many people prefer the temperate diving waters of Cozumel and Belize, but if marketed properly, the idea of diving in the extreme conditions of the Arctic could become a popular one, he added.

With a diving season that lasts from April until October, Williams said interested people could come North and ice dive and swim with different whale species.

"For people coming up to dive, it would be much better to dive with people from up here. You do things people down south don't think about," Williams said.

To garner more interest in his proposals, Williams said he might offer a winter program to train and certify divers in Iqaluit and a diving trip to the tropics as part of the program.