The NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC) represents the Inuit of south and central Labrador. Community members had been reporting more Striped bass sightings, a shift in migration patterns thought to be driven by climate change. NCC’s Environment and Natural Resources department set out to understand how far the species had spread. The concern was its threat to Atlantic salmon and trout, which are central to Inuit food and cultural life. Working with NatureMetrics, NCC used eDNA to map Striped bass across lakes, rivers and estuaries. The results confirmed what local knowledge had been signalling, including that bass were overwintering in local waters.

Climate-driven changes in Striped bass migration had brought an unfamiliar species into NunatuKavut waters. This raised urgent concerns for native Atlantic salmon and trout. Assessing the scale of the incursion was difficult:

• Harsh, remote terrain and freezing temperatures made conventional sampling impractical.
• Existing fish data for Labrador was scarce, and Striped bass are hard to sample there.

The community had limited means to assess how far the species had spread or what impact it was having.

NCC’s Environment and Natural Resources department partnered with NatureMetrics to deploy aquatic eDNA sampling across lakes, rivers and estuaries throughout the catchment. Sampling was guided by NCC’s Striped bass sightings database, which has been built from Inuit traditional knowledge since 2017. Combining Indigenous ecological knowledge with DNA technology made sampling targeted and efficient, even in otherwise inaccessible terrain.

The eDNA surveys confirmed Striped bass at multiple sites across the catchment, including evidence of overwintering in local waters. The findings:

• Validated local knowledge of increasing bass sightings
• Clarified the extent of the species’ presence in the region
• Gave NCC a robust baseline for tracking Striped bass movements and distribution over time

NCC now has the evidence it needs to make strategic decisions about protecting native species. The data will be shared with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to support co-management of Striped bass, including:

• Identifying habitats
• Resource management
• Ongoing monitoring of climate-driven shifts in species range

The project also gives other Indigenous communities a replicable model for combining traditional knowledge with eDNA. It sets a precedent for future funding applications and collaborative conservation with Indigenous communities worldwide.