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ARVIAT
In Arviat, on a night in early July, Pierre Ikakhik was visiting friends when one of their children came running into the house at around 11 p.m. looking for hip waders and saying there were small fish strewn all over the beach.

Macey Malla, left, Don Ikakhik and Shayla Ikakhik give the thumbs-up to their catch of capelin in Arviat earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Pierre Ikakhik

They went out with the kids, who found the catch, and saw hundreds of capelin strewn along the shore.

"I've been living here all my life and it’s the first time to see that on the beach," Ikakhik said. "When you go out boating you can see it in the deep places, where the seagulls are trying to catch it, and you can see it in the sea, but I never saw it on the beach before, This is my first time to see that."

Ikakhik said a friend of his from Cape Breton, N.S. saw seagulls coming close to shore and told him to expect some of the small fish to wash up.

"I didn't believe him, but that night there were lots of fish. I guess he knows the seagulls."

He said some of the fish on the beach were dead, but many were alive and there were 50 to 60 people scattered around the beach collecting them until 1 a.m. "It was fun."

The collectors were mostly kids. "They were just collecting and having fun," Ikakhik said.

He said some people eat the capelin, though he hasn't tried it. "They’re kind of big ... but they're skinny and it looks like not enough meat."

He still brought in his own catch and put the fish in his freezer.

"Next year, for cod fishing, I have bait for it."

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, capelin are the essential prey for cod, but are also important food sources for sea birds and other ocean dwellers, such as belugas and whales. They are a slender, silvery fish that usually grow no longer than seven and a half inches.

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