Cod Fishing Through The Ice

While living in the high Arctic I was surprised that few people there fished or ate black Arctic cod.I fished in the leads on Cambridge Bay on a regular basis and always caught all the cod fish I could eat. These black skinned fish are delicious but the local Enoks never bothered to use this resource because they claimed that these fish were too bony.

Codfish were always one of our staples when I was a child and we never complained about the bones. The fish can be filleted in a manner so as to avoid the bones. Inuit fed their dogs fish and the Eskimo dogs would not eat cod. Again it was because of the bones. I started to catch large numbers of cod and cleaned them up and served the fish to friends. Most were surprised at the good taste of this white fleshed fish and deep fried or pan fried they were excellent.

Inuit mainly boil their fish so after trying the cod boiled it was even better. After two years of trying to make this cod as a good source of protein for the Inuit I succeeded after I sponsored a fishing derby and fish fry during Omingmak Frolics. Today the Arctic Cod is a popular winter source of fresh fish and is no longer thought of as that ugly, bony fish that even dogs will not eat.

There is a growing commercial interest in Arctic Cod off the east coast of Nunavut and probably will play in the growing need for employment and fresh fish.