Researchers study oil-eating microbes off Hudson Bay coast

By Daron Letts, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News A team of Inuit and southern researchers is using the water off Chesterfield Inlet as a living laboratory as they study naturally occurring microbes that feed on oil residue in the ocean. Run out of the Centre for Observation Science at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, since 2022, the Genice II project blends scientific method with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or traditional Inuit knowledge. It builds on data from previous studies in Winnipeg and at the University of Calgary in 2015 and 2020. The researchers are looking for microbial communities beneath the ice. These samples form baseline data with which subsequent samples may be compared, to identify any population changes, Collins said. Microbes are the foundation of the marine food chain, ultimately…

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