Arctic Charr Fishing

Other names for the seagoing fish—char, red charr; Cree: awanans; Danish: fjeldørred; French: omble chevalier; German: saibling; Greenlandic: eqaluk; Icelandic: bleikja; Inuit: iqalugaq, iqaluk, ilkalupik, ivisaaruq, kisuajuq, majuqtuq, nutiliarjuk, situajuq, situliqtuq, tisuajuq; Japanese: iwana; Norwegian: arktisk roye, royr; Russian: goletz; Swedish: röding.

Other names for the landlocked fish—blueback charr, blueback trout, Sunapee trout, golden trout (Sunapee), Quebec red.

Although the majority of anglers are unfamiliar with arctic charr and have not even been close to catching one, this species is technically among the most widely distributed salmonids, and the most northerly ranging member of the Salmonidae family. It is one of five species that are actually classified as charr (see), including the more familiar lake trout (see: trout, lake) and brook trout (see: trout, brook). The arctic charr varies so greatly in coloration throughout its North American, Asiatic, and European ranges that up to 26 varieties, many thought to be species or subspecies, have heretofore been identified, resulting in a great deal of confusion and a tremendous problem for taxonomists. This confusion extended to anadromous and nonanadromous forms, the latter including three New England charr—the blueback trout, Sunapee trout, and Quebec red trout, which were once separately recognized species but which were all reclassified and folded under the highly inclusive umbrella S. alpinus in 1974.

The arctic charr exists in anadromous (migrating annually to the sea) and nonanadromous (landlocked or living entirely in freshwater) forms. Because of plentiful food resources in the ocean, the anadromous version tends to be larger than the landlocked one and of more importance to commercial and sport fisheries. The landlocked charr is blocked from the sea by some physical barrier. It is found everywhere that the sea-run charr exists but also occurs in smaller numbers much farther to the south. Thus, the arctic charr is known as a glacial relict in cold, deep lakes as far south as New England, Switzerland, and Britain.

Some anglers consider sea-run arctic charr the equal of Atlantic salmon, because both are strong battlers that make long runs and thrilling aerial jumps when hooked. The charr are perhaps more prone to furious spinning and head-twisting gyrations. Although charr may be caught in river pools like Atlantic salmon, most arctic rivers are more turbulent and swift than salmon rivers, and fishing concentrates at the head of pools and where swift runs empty into open areas. Arctic charr are also schooling fish and are likely to be present in small numbers in a given location.

Arctic charr have long been a staple in the diets of native peoples (and their dogs) in the far north, and in North America they have been an object of commercial fishing since the 1860s off Labrador, as well as commercial interest in Newfoundland and in Nunavut Territory and the Northwest Territories at Rankin Inlet, Cambridge Bay, Pelly Bay, and Nettilling (Seal) Lake on Baffin Island. They are primarily taken with gillnets.

The flesh of sea-run charr is deep orange red and an Epicurean delight, although it can spoil quickly. Depending on diet and location, some charr may have lighter colored, or white, flesh.

Arctic charr is marketed mainly fresh and frozen as whole dressed fish and steaks. A small quantity is canned. Red-fleshed fish command the highest price.

Like other salmonids, arctic charr have felt the impact of human encroachment, mainly increased development and overfishing, and some stocks have declined in overall number and average size. Sportfishing has also had some impact in a few places, especially when numbers of the largest specimens were removed, as these are fairly slow-growing fish. Other than humans, the arctic charr has few enemies. Gulls and loons prey on small fish, and a few seagoing charr may succumb to seals and white whales, but the greatest effect may be predation by other fish.

Identification

Like all members of the Salvelinus genus, the arctic charr has light-colored spots on its body, including below the lateral line, and the leading edges of all fins on the lower part of the body are milk white. It is a long and slender fish with a small, pointed head, an adipose fin, an axillary process at the base of each pelvic fin, and a slightly forked tail that almost appears squared. It also has very fine scales, so deeply embedded that the skin has a smooth, slippery feel. Unlike the trout, it has teeth only in the central forward part of its mouth.

Coloration is highly variable among seagoing and landlocked forms, and can change even within individual stocks; those migrating to one coastal system may appear different from those migrating to another, as also happens with salmon and trout. In a general sense, however, the arctic charr is silvery in nonspawning individuals, with deep green or blue shading on the back and upper sides, and a white belly. Spawning males exhibit brilliant red or reddish orange coloration on the sides, underparts, and lower fins; their backs are muted, sometimes without the blue or green coloration or possibly with orange to olive hues. Spawning males of some populations develop a kype, and some have a humped back. Spawning females are also colorful, although the red is less intense and present only on the flanks and belly; the back remains bluish or greenish.

The tremendous variation among arctic charr (which leads some scientists to view different stocks as subspecies) makes it almost impossible to make a clearcut identification based on coloration, especially if other charr exist in the same area. Lake trout, Dolly Varden, and bull trout (see: Dolly Varden and bull trout), for example, may overlap with arctic charr, and whereas lake trout are readily discerned due to their bodily patterns, the other species are not. Color, for example, is not a factor that distinguishes the arctic charr from its close relative the Dolly Varden, which is the species most often confused with the arctic charr.

Often it is virtually impossible to distinguish between the two species except by laboratory analysis, and even today there are few scientists who know how to make a positive identification. Much incorrect information has been published concerning the distribution of each species, and consequently anglers and scientists alike have made many false identifications based on the mistaken belief that only arctic charr or only Dolly Varden occurred in a given area, lake, or river (especially in Alaska). An individual who is familiar with both species may be able to make an identification based on the size of the spots, which are larger on the arctic charr. Fish returning from the sea are often silvery with no spots at all, however, making external identification all but impossible. Gill raker counts are helpful. On Canada’s Victoria Island, charr have about 25 to 30 gill rakers on the first left gill arch. Dolly Varden have 21 to 22 gill rakers. Arctic charr have 40 to 45 pyloric caeca (wormlike appendages on the pylorus, the section of intestine directly after the stomach), whereas Dolly Varden have about 30.

Size/Age

How large arctic charr can grow is uncertain, but some may live up to 30 years and grow to 3 feet in length. Sea-run charr grow much larger, and the all-tackle world record is a 32-pound, 9-ounce sea-run fish that was caught in 1981 in the Tree River of Canada’s Northwest Territories. It has been reported that a 15.4-kilogram (33.8 pounds) charr was caught at Novaya Zemlya in Russia.

In most places sea-run arctic charr range up to 10 pounds and average 7 pounds; landlocked fish normally weigh a few pounds. A sea-run arctic charr weighing more than 15 pounds is a trophy in most waters, although such fish are not uncommon to streams entering Coronation and Queen Maud Gulfs in north-central Canada, and emanating from Victoria Island. These waters are especially notable for arctic charr that range from 15 to 20 pounds, and sometimes higher.

Distribution

As the name suggests, the arctic charr is circumpolar in distribution, occurring in pure and cold rivers and lakes around the globe, from the northeastern United States north and west across northern Canada, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands, and from northern Russia south to Lake Baikal and Kamchatka, as well as in Iceland, Great Britain, Scandinavia, the Alps, and Spitsbergen, among other places. The most northerly ranging fish, it has been reported above the eightieth parallel from Ellesmere Island’s Discovery Harbour, some 800 kilometers below the North Pole.

In North America, they occur from Alaska around the Bering Sea and along the Arctic coast to Baffin Island, along the coastline of Hudson Bay, and from the northern Quebec coast easterly and southerly to Maine and New Hampshire. Except in larger rivers, they seldom range far inland here, although there are a few pockets of landlocked charr. In the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territory, where they are especially known, charr distribution includes most coastal rivers, some coastal lakes, the streams of the high-Arctic islands, and several islands in Hudson Bay.

Habitat

In their ocean life, arctic charr remain in inshore waters; most do not migrate far. In rivers, they locate in pools and runs. The lakes inhabited by anadromous and landlocked charr are cold year-round, so the fish remain near the surface or in the upper levels and may gather at the mouths of tributaries when food is plentiful.

Life history/Behavior

Arctic Charr (spawning phase)

The charr spawns in September or October in colder regions and later if it lives farther south; a water temperature of around 4°C is preferred. The spawning female seeks out a suitable bed of gravel or broken rock. It will choose a stretch of river or lake bottom deep enough to keep the eggs safe from the winter ice, or it will choose the bottom of a rapid, where ice does not form.

Using her fins, the female scoops out a nest, or redd, in the loose gravel. The nest is little more than a shallow depression about the length and width of the female’s body. Here, she releases some of her 3,000 to 7,000 eggs as the male releases milt. Then, the female lightly fans the gravel over the fertilized eggs, usually in the course of digging another nest nearby. This process is repeated until the female is spent.

The eggs hatch sometime in the first week of April, although the timing depends on light and water temperature at the specific location. Temperatures above 8°C at any time will kill the eggs. The alevin remain hidden in the gravel for many weeks, emerging as free-swimming fish or fry only when the food reserves are used up. This occurs around the time of ice breakup, which may be as late as mid-July in the most northerly regions, when their emergence coincides with the renewed growth of plankton.

The anadromous charr lives in its birth river for at least four years and is about 15 to 20 centimeters (6 to 8 inches) long when it migrates to the sea for the first time. Spring comes, the rivers break free of ice, and the four- or five-year-old charr makes its first trip down to the ocean. It will return anywhere between mid-August and late September, before the ice begins to form again. The larger fish return first, even as soon as mid-July in some cases. Unlike other salmonids, all arctic charr leave the sea and overwinter in rivers and lakes, although not all are spawners; some go back and forth several times before they first spawn.

The charr matures sexually around its 10th year in the Arctic, when it has reached a length of about 65 centimeters, although maturity comes a couple of years earlier in Labrador, and at a shorter length. After that, the fish spawns every second or third year. Often it does not migrate to the sea during its reproductive years.

It is not known what mechanisms control migratory behavior, but it is thought that hormonal changes are touched off by changes in light inten-sity. Once in the sea, it is clearly the availability of food that governs movement. When food is plentiful, the fish tend to remain near the mouth of the river from which they emerged. In times of scarcity, however, they move into offshore waters, sometimes traveling long distances. Tagged charr are frequently recovered 30 to 50 kilometers from their river of origin, and some fish have made recorded journeys of up to 600 kilometers; the record is 1,000 kilometers.

While in the sea, charr from many different rivers meet and mingle, but when the time comes to return upriver, they tend in most cases to separate and return to the parent stream. In some instances, they even return to the exact spawning site of previous years.

The cold northern waters are not conducive to rapid growth. Even with its flexible eating habits and its fine adaptation to a cold environment, the charr grows slowly, which makes it vulnerable to excessive exploitation. At the age of one year, when scale development begins, the charr is often less than 5 centimeters (2 inches) long. Growth rates vary greatly among individual fish within a given habitat. It is usual, however, for a charr to reach full growth at 2.5 to 3 kilograms, or at about age 12.

Nonanadromous or landlocked charr tend to reach maturity when they are smaller and younger. They have the same lifestyle as their anadromous brethren.

Food

Insects, mollusks, and small fish constitute the diet of arctic charr. Ninespine sticklebacks are important forage in some places. The charr often does not eat in winter, when its metabolic rate slows in tune with a cooling environment. Rather, it lives on the fat it has accumulated during the summer, and growth is accordingly limited during the cold months, and greatest when at sea.