The project will use a bottom trawling, traps and baited cameras to collect baseline data on benthic habitats and species (fishes and invertebrates) near Qikiqtarjuaq. All work will be completed off of a vessel-based platform. The collected data will allow assessments of current and potential impacts of climate change on the benthic community. The bottom trawl is an efficient gear for catching Greenland Halibut, sculpins and shrimp, the traps will target shrimp and benthic invertebrates (e.g. whelk), and the camera will collected data on urchins, crabs and other species that are not susceptible to the trawl, as well as data on habitat characteristics (e.g. bottom material, roughness) and effects of sampling equipment on habitats. The combination of sampling gear creates an excellent opportunity to observe any new species in the area that may be expanding because of climate change. Tissue samples will be taken from all species encountered for stable isotope analysis to determine food web structure and linkages. Fish stomachs will be examined to determine their diets, which will be compared with the results of the stable isotope analyses.The objectives of the project are to 1) determine which benthic fish and invertebrate species are currently present near Qikiqtarjuaq; 2) quantify fish diets and food web structure and dynamics; 3) quantify habitat characteristics and conditions, and assess impacts of sampling gears on habitats. Sampling would occur during the open water season (August or September) using a contracted research or fishing vessel; sampling would require approximately 7 days each year (vessel with 24 hour operations capacity). Reports on fish and invertebrate species encountered will be provided each year within a month following fieldwork. Specimens collected will be shipped to Winnipeg for diet and stable isotope analyses during the winter following collection. A report on the diet and food web analyses will be provided at the conclusion of the project (after 3 or 4 years of sampling) and will include consideration of year-to-year variability in the results. These baseline data on the benthic community and food web interaction will capture the current conditions at Qikitarjuaq and allow examinations of the effects of climate change or human development activities on benthic habitats and communities. Data on potential commercial species, such as Greenland Halibut and Northern Shrimp, will also be available to the community to support fishery development. Three years of sampling is considered the minimum to account for year-to-year variation in catches and environmental conditions when analyzing the data, four years would improve that consideration of year-to-year variation. Similar trawling surveys, but without traps and baited cameras, were conducted near Qikiqtarjauq in 2017-2019. Data form those surveys will be combined with the proposed work. Some specimens from those earlier years have been used for stable isotope analyses, but not stomach content analyses. The addition of the trap collections and baited camera observations will help put the trawling results in context regarding habitat structure and conditions.Methods: Bottom trawling, deployment of traps and a baited camera system, CTD casts, and zooplankton tows will be conducted using a vessel based platform. Two people from the Nattivak HTA will be contracted as members of the science crew during the survey. Bottom trawls will be run for 15 min bottom contact; 6-8 trawls can be completed in one day. At the end of each day a string of fish and invertebrate traps (4 traps) will be deployed; the traps will be retrieved ~12 h later, at the start of the next morning. At each sampling station a baited camera will be deployed to characterize the sea floor and record observations of species that are not caught in the trawl and traps, a CTD cast will be conducted to obtain a vertical profile of the water column, and a vertical zooplankton net tow will collect samples of the local zooplankton community. This sampling program will be coordinated with other coastal monitoring programs to minimize overlap in sampling and to provide as much complementary sampling as possible (i.e. collect additional samples that would aid other projects. Stable isotope analyses involve chemical sampling and use of an isotope analyzer in the lab. Two members of the science crew will be contracted through the Nattivak HTA. These crew members will be trained in use of the bottom trawl, fish traps, baited camera, zooplankton net, CTD and processing of the sample catch.Deliverables: •Map of sampling locations showing dominant species in the catches/observations.•Annual report to the Nattivak HTA on sampling activities, catches and food web and genetic analyses.•Annual DFO Technical Reports describing the fieldwork completed and data.•Primary publication describing the benthic community and food web at Qikiqtarjuaq.•Primary publication comparing benthic communities and food webs among Nunavut communities.