Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 02/02) - Thanks to a government-sponsored exploratory fishing project, several Kugluktuk residents have been trained to catch non-traditional seafood delicacies found in the deep waters near the hamlet.

The Department of Sustainable Development, Kugluktuk and the local Hunters and Trappers Association hosted an exploratory crab fishery last week.

"It was there to help train and support two of the local fishermen in town and to hopefully enhance the local diet and get people to start eating food that is readily available to them that they're not traditionally used to eating, such as crabs and sea urchins and stuff like that," said Baba Pedersen, a renewable resource development officer for DSD.

Using gill nets that are dragged across the bottom of the ocean, the fishers caught flounder, cod and char. The standard practice for Kugluktuk fishers is to toss their nets near the surface of the water.

"We sunk these ones down to the bottom of the ocean instead ... and caught the different species that swim at different levels. That gave us a lot of the flounder," said Pedersen.

"We're just trying to increase the awareness of what is already out there in our back yard. We were all within 15 miles (24 kilometres) of town so it was not very far away that we went," said Pedersen.

The project could also encourage residents to reduce local food purchases, in favour of foods available locally, saving some money at the same time.

"A lot of people already follow a traditional lifestyle and this is just other species that they can harvest in order to get food," said Pedersen.

After the fishery, the community was invited to a "public taste test" to introduce them to unfamiliar delicacies found in their own territory.

"Everyone went home quite full and we actually gave food to some folks to take home with them," said Pedersen, noting they had a turnout of about 150 people.