Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every day Nunakput constituents are posting on social media about the high amounts of salmon they are catching in their fish nets in the Beaufort Sea. The Arctic char at this time are usually feeding along the coast before they migrate up the lakes and rivers for the winter. I am worried that these invasive species will take over some of the lakes and rivers where we harvest Arctic char, whitefish, coney, herring, lake trout, and other fish species, ultimately affecting the ecosystem as a whole.
The ocean currents have been warming and allowing species that do not usually migrate to the Arctic to traverse the waters through the high seas, affecting the ecosystem on and offshore. We see the effects of climate change with the sporadic and unpredictable weather patterns all over the globe. The warm ocean currents are bringing species such as salmon to colder water, which means that they are changing the balance of the ecosystem in the Arctic.
Fish farming in Alaska is likely contributing to this increase, and we must work with our co-management groups across the Northwest Territories and abroad to ensure that we are doing our best to support the rivers, lakes, and communities along the rivers and coast to ensure that this does not become a food security issue.
Mr. Speaker, I believe there is a need to take a look at this and get involved and partner with Indigenous governments, hunters and trappers in the Northwest Territories, and the federal government to ensure that we can take a picture of this invasion of salmon and do our best to understand the underlying causes that are affecting the harvesters' catch in Nunakput and across the Northwest Territories. Partnering on projects and collaboration and cooperation has never been as important as we learn why this is occurring. We need to understand this from a global prospective to ensure that we do our best to protect our way of life in the Arctic.
Mr. Speaker, local Indigenous knowledge is key to the planning, conservation, and protection of the species in the Northwest Territories and across Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.