Life around the North Water ecosystem: Natural and social drivers of change over a millennium

Abstract

The formation of the North Water in Smith Sound about 4500 years ago, as evidenced by the establishment of bird colonies and human presence, also initiated a long-term anthropogenic agent as part of this High Arctic ecosystem. Different epochs have influenced the human occupation in the area: immigration pulses from Canada and Alaska, trade with meteorite iron throughout the Arctic, introduction of new technologies by whalers and explorers, exploitation of resources by foreigners, political sequestration, export of fox and seal skins and later narwhal products, and recently fishing. Physical drivers in terms of weather and climate affecting the northern hemisphere also impact accessibility and productivity of the ecosystem, with cascading effects on social drivers, again acting back on the natural ecologies. Despite its apparent isolation, the ecosystem had and still has wide ranging spatial ramifications that extend beyond the High Arctic, and include human activity. The challenge is to determine what is internal and what is external to an ecosystem.

Interactions of climate, socio-economics, and global mercury pollution in the North Water

“…1 ). Sources of cash income have, indeed, changed in significant ways over the past decades (Flora et al 2018 ; Hastrup et al 2018 ). The cost of living is high, and with the hunting endeavour, itself being costly, the restrictions on the trade in by-products like tusks, furs, and to some extent seal skin have made the halibut a welcome source of income.…”

Thule as Frontier

“…In the twenty-first century, the regulation of the Thule commons has been made increasingly visible, due to scientifically based quotas that have been imposed on key species, such as polar bear, narwhal, and walrus. These and many other resources are sustained by the North Water polynya, an open-water oasis in the ice-covered sea during winter, while unmarked during summer, that belongs to no one in particular, but which serves as a communal reserve for game (Hastrup 2016;Hastrup et al 2018aHastrup et al , 2018b. For the subsistence hunters, access is equal and quotas are shared, but the hunt is increasingly disturbed both by environmental changes and by new traffic in the Arctic Seas.…”

Introducing the North Water: Histories of exploration, ice dynamics, living resources, and human settlement in the Thule Region

“…In spite of some regularity, it is affected by forces deriving from far beyond the polynya ecosystem. Together this influences animal patterns of movement and settlement in the Thule region (Hastrup et al 2018 ).…”

“…There is archaeological evidence of Norse visitors from the settlements in West Greenland and, at the same time, the Inuit of the early, so-called Ruin Island phase of the Thule Culture reached the polynya (Appelt 2004 ). Thus, around 1250–1300 ad , the region was the scene of cross-cultural contacts and probably of exchange of items and raw materials such as ivory and meteoric iron (and perhaps genes and diseases) (Hastrup et al 2018 ). The Tunit seem to have disappeared around 1300 ad , while the incoming Thule Inuit whalers settled in the entire North Water area and the rest of Greenland during the following century.…”