Scientists already know that climate change is pushing species into unfamiliar territory.

While the movement of plants and terrestrial life is visible, what about those changes that take place under the surface?

Using the technique of gene sequencing, scientists are now able to paint a much fuller picture of which marine species are where, simply by testing the water.

The capture of eDNA or ‘environmental DNA’ is a new technique already being employed by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans to keep track of species, both native and invasive.

The practice, used in Canada since around 2013, is helping environmental managers get a more accurate sense of what species live in or migrate through a specific region and — rather than relying on difficult, expensive and, at-times, flawed use of by-catch or radar techniques — the capture of eDNA is as simple as tipping a cup off the side of your boat.

Because of this, eDNA represents a potential boon for the practice of citizen science. Anyone with a little instruction and a clean plastic vessel can technically collect samples representing major research value to scientists back at the lab.

In the fall of 2017 I had the opportunity to photograph scientists traveling with the C3 expedition as they gathered water samples for eDNA analysis along the B.C. coast.

As the team gathers samples, scientist Amy Tabata notes the boat’s GPS coordinates. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

The collection of eDNA allows laboratories to study marine life in a laboratory setting without killing animals for research purposes and without removing (most) creatures from the water. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

DNA gathered from marine environments can be used to determine biodiversity within a specific region, including information on terrestrial animals interaction with the water’s edge nearby. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Scientist Brian Hunt collects samples in the rainy Broughton. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Samples collected during the C3 expedition are a part of one of the largest eDNA surveys undertaken in Canada’s history. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Scientists with the C3 mission gathered water samples from nearly 100 sites along the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific coasts. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Peter Van Buren, a member of the C3 expedition and an oceanographic technician at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C., conducts water sampling. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Amy Tabata uses molecular genetics in her work at the Pacific Biological Station for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, where she studies the impacts of disease and the environment on salmon and other fish. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Participants in the C3 eDNA sampling effort are compiling important baseline data on biodiversity along the Canadian coast. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

A look at one water sample gathered in the Broughton through a microscope. The gathering of eDNA can be used to identify species shift due to climate change, the presence of predators and prey in a region and the introduction of invasive species. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Capture of an organism found in a water sample gathered in the Broughton. This photo was taken using a iPhone and a microscope. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Water samples gathered from along B.C.’s coastline may be used to further understand the impact of fish farming on wild salmon stocks. The Broughton Archipelago is home to numerous operations where Atlantic salmon — considered an invasive species on the Pacific coast — are farmed. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Oceanographic technician Peter Van Buren strikes a pose at the famed Lacey Falls of Tribune Channel. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Scientists Brian Hunt and Peter Van Buren. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

Scientists say a robust catalogue of what species belong where in Canadian waters is long overdue. Baseline data on species can aid Canada’s marine science community in understanding how invasive species are being introduced into new regions, where they persist and what effect they’re having. Photo: Taylor Roades / C3

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Salmon used to be infrequent visitors to the Mackenzie River and communities of the Arctic, but more species have begun to show up in the North more often and in greater numbers than ever before.

“They’re indicating change,” says Karen Dunmall, a research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans who is overseeing the Arctic Salmon project.

The climate change they’re indicating is affecting the Arctic more potently and quickly than anywhere else. It’s manifesting in thinner ice that forms later and breaks up earlier, warmer rivers, milder winters, longer summers and changes in wildlife and vegetation across the Arctic.

Dunmall’s community-based research has found that although some salmon have been found for generations in communities across the Arctic and up the Mackenzie River, they have always been limited in numbers and species.

“Before 2004, for instance, there was the odd pink salmon that was noticed,” Dunmall told The Narwhal.

But now, every other year, salmon are being noticed by fishermen in more and more communities. They have been participating in the research, sending whole fish and heads to Dunmall for recording and analysis. 

“It started out just in the Mackenzie River Delta, and now all of the communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (along the Arctic coast) have caught pink salmon.”

And it’s not just pink and chum salmon anymore: other southern species including coho, sockeye and Atlantic salmon are starting to show up as well.

The fish have now been caught as far into the Arctic as Kugluktuk, Nunavut, and as far up the Mackenzie River as Fort Good Hope, crossing the Arctic Circle as they head south.

New DNA technology finds its place in the Arctic

To get a better picture of where the salmon are going, Dunmall has begun applying a cutting-edge technology called environmental DNA, or eDNA. The technique involves taking a water sample and testing it for free-floating bits of genetic material, things like skin cells or scales that have been shed into the water.

It’s a brand new way of determining which creatures are in a body of water without ever seeing them, and due to the wide net it casts, it’s especially useful in the vast and remote Arctic.

“It’s a way of shrinking the size of the Arctic,” says Dunmall.

Environmental DNA is being deployed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans across the Arctic to keep track of a multitude of species, both native and invasive. It helps fisheries managers focus on a particular area, armed with the knowledge that the species is there.

The government has been developing its capacity for environmental DNA monitoring since about 2013, but interest is picking up. The technology was the subject of a recent meeting between the department’s managers at various levels from across the country, in which they discussed how best to apply it.

“The collection of eDNA is relatively straightforward,” Robert Bajno, a Fisheries and Oceans scientist developing the technology in Winnipeg, told The Narwhal.

“Anyone, with a little training, can take a sample.”

All that’s needed in the field is a clean bag — the bulk of the technical work is done in the lab.

That means it’s perfect for community-based monitoring.

Old knowledge; new questions

Dunmall’s work isn’t all high-tech, though. Much of her research relies on traditional knowledge.

“Whenever I can, I talk to people about salmon. And people tell me, especially in the Mackenzie communities, that, ‘we’ve harvested salmon forever, why are we now collecting information about them? This isn’t new,’ ” she says.

Some Indigenous languages along the Mackenzie river have words for salmon, but not all. And among those that have a word for the fish, it’s only chum that is named; Dunmall doesn’t know of any local Indigenous words for chinook or coho salmon.

“But then all the other species of salmon started showing up,” she says.

One of the things she learned was that every so often, there would be years when big pulses of chum salmon would show up in the communities of the Mackenzie River. Those years are becoming more frequent. 

Karen Dunmall holds a chum salmon in Great Bear Lake, far upriver from the Arctic Ocean. Photo: Cody Dey

By comparing the traditional knowledge coming from the communities with the results she’s seeing now, Dunmall is piecing together what looks like a steady yet substantial change in the species makeup of Arctic fish populations.

That change could, in turn, help or hinder existing and future fishing economies, especially if the salmon are competing with or preying on other similar fish like Arctic char.

There is also the question of how the increasing numbers of salmon affect the predators (like wolves, eagles, bears or other fish) and prey the growing population interact with.

By cutting open their stomachs, Dunmall has determined the fish are eating when they approach the river, though it is thought that when they enter the freshwater, like other salmon, they stop eating.

That has led to a slew of other questions.

“Are they eating the same things as other fish in the area? Are they eating other fish in the area?” she asks.

Further, the scientists aren’t even sure yet where the salmon are spending their lives. That question isn’t impossible to answer: a bone in the inner ear of fish, called the otolith, picks up telltale chemicals throughout the fish’s life that can be used to retrace its path through the ocean.

Analyzing the otoliths she’s collecting is another future project on Dunmall’s mind.

Wherever the fish are coming from, they are showing up in more of the Arctic than ever before.

Pacific species have been found as far east as Cambridge Bay, while Atlantic salmon have been making their way northwest through Nunavut.

Continuing change in the Arctic climate could further accelerate the incursions of the new fish. Scientists say before long, Arctic fish stocks will likely look more and more like southern ones, and the ecosystems and people that exist there today will have to reckon with the consequences.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.