Inuvik (Nov 15/04) - It's no shark's tale -- Les Harris is collecting fish fins. Far from an unusual hobby, this collection will provide invaluable data for the fisheries biologist to further his study of broad whitefish located between the Beaufort Sea and Fort Good Hope.

"I want to look at the variation and be able to define separate stocks," said Harris, who works for the Gwich'in Renewable Resource Board in Inuvik. "To properly manage a species, you must define the separate stocks," Harris said.

Therefore, the biologist put a request out to fishermen in the region to help with the study by clipping off fin samples from the broad whitefish they catch in exchange for a reward. "It's easy and simple to collect," he said of the fin.

By analyzing the DNA within the fin, Harris said he will gain valuable insight into the fish, especially how different the populations are from one another, how the fish dispersed after the last glaciation and its common ancestors.

An example of the diversity of the stock could be the whitefish in Travaillant Lake, about 70km northeast of Tsiigehtchic, Harris said.

The question of whether or not the fish are lake-locked or can swim down the Mackenzie is one which is answerable through study, he said.

One of the greatest challenges of this study is the logistics.

The vastness of the region makes it impossible for him to physically retrieve the fish, so offering a reward for the fins from various species enables him to do a complete study.

"But I still need samples from The Rampart Rapids in Fort Good Hope and Point Separation," he noted.

Thus far, he has collected about 500 of the fins, which he carefully catalogues and preserves.

"I'm trying to collect as many as possible."