Arctic Coast is a community-monitoring program, led by DFO Winnipeg that is co-developed with local hunters and trappers boards to gather baseline data on coastal fishes and their habitats. For our 2025/2026 we will be requesting support from the Aqigiq HTO, Aiviq HTO, Nattivak HTA, Amaruq HTA (and Kangiqłiniq HTO if Chesterfield Inlet is not possible) to continue our community-based monitoring work (Kinngait, Chesterfield, Rankin) and/or collect environmental DNA to develop a protocol with the communities to monitor the expansion of salmon (Iqaluit, Qikiqtarjuaq and Kinngait). The community-based field programs will run at different times in the Kivalliq Region (Chesterfield July 20-Sept 1 once per week for up to 5 weeks; we will reach out to Rankin if Chesterfield work is not possible), and Kinngait (August 26-Oct 13; once per week for up to 5 weeks) in which community-based technicians will be asked to conduct fieldwork for approximately one day per week within the fieldwork time range. During the summer, crews will travel by boat to the same sites to set 6 panel multi-mesh gillnets in the water, collect benthic data using a ponar grab and plankton using a vertical tow. Gillnets in both seasons will be set for a maximum of 2 hours. In the winter, monitors will travel by snowmobile to sites to set 6 panel monofilament gill nets in the water for a maximum of two hours (Kinngait only) or collect fishes opportunistically by hook and line. We plan to have winter fieldwork in Kinngait begin January 25th, 2026 and continue approximately once per week for up to 5 weeks until March 15th, 2026. In Iqaluit we will not have a community-based structure but will rather be working with the DFO-Iqaluit office under the guidance of the Amaruq HTA to collect environmental DNA and temperature at two sites where salmon have been observed (August 19-24), at one of these sites we will be setting a gill net to potentially capture salmon and co-occurring species (char). Unlike work in Chesterfield and Kinngait, the Iqaluit work will not be community-based. In Qikiqtarjuaq as a component of the baseline program we will not be collecting fishes but eDNA at their established monitoring sites between September 6-28th, and potentially retrieving a temperature probe. There will be no fishes or physical samples collected from Qikiqtarjuaq between these dates. Any fish collected using subsistence methods during the program will be measured, photographed and samples sent to DFO biologists for further analyses at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg. The abundance of fishes in this area in the winter is largely unknown, and it is unlikely fishes caught for subsistence in the summer will be found here (Arctic Char, Whitefish) however, if monitors are able to collect other fishes (e.g., Saffron Cod, Greenland Cod, sculpins) at these sites it will provide valuable information on seasonal biodiversity change in each region. The aim is to collect 30 individuals per species, in each community, in each season. Once the target number of individuals per species has been reached the remainder will be live released. Monitors will be asked to travel to sites and collect information over the course of a few hours and return to town at the end of the day. These sites have been selected by the respective HTOs/HTA of each community, and the aim is that the same sites will be sampled in the summer and winter months. Among all programs there will be approximately 15 days of community-based fieldwork, 7 days of DFO-led fieldwork (Iqaluit and Qikiqtarjuaq). Depending on project funds, this is an annual community-based monitoring program funded in part by Marine Conservation Targets (DFO) to support the establishment of Marine Protected Areas and Indigenous Protected Conservation Areas.