Complete with photos. I didn't know this type of mussel gathering existed until I saw it on PBS some time ago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/w...ce-canada.html

On Tuesday, July 9, 2019 at 5:19:30 PM UTC-5, A Moose in Love wrote:
>
> Complete with photos. I didn't know this type of mussel gathering existed until I saw it on PBS some time ago.
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/w...ce-canada.html
>
Viewable only if you log in and create an account.

On Tuesday, July 9, 2019 at 7:14:47 PM UTC-4, wrote:
> On Tuesday, July 9, 2019 at 5:19:30 PM UTC-5, A Moose in Love wrote:
> >
> > Complete with photos. I didn't know this type of mussel gathering existed until I saw it on PBS some time ago.
> >
> > https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/w...ce-canada.html
> >
> Viewable only if you log in and create an account.

I wasn't asked to do that. I'll post the text...

KANGIQSUJUAQ, Quebec €” For eight months a year, the flat bay around the village of Kangiqsujuaq in far northern Quebec freezes beneath a white expanse of ice and snow, leaving ravens and foxes as rare signs of life, along with Inuit and their dogs. Throughout the winter the Inuit hunt seal and caribou, and they fish through the ice for arctic char.

But in the coldest months, when the ice is thickest, some venture beneath the ice to gather mussels. Every two weeks the pull of the moon combines with the geography of this region to create unusually large tides. The water falls as much as 55 feet in some places, emptying the bay under the ice along the shore for an hour or more. Thats when some Inuit climb aboard their snowmobiles and head out onto the bay.

Watch a 360 video of the mussel collecting mission.

One recent day I joined two of them, Tiisi Qisiiq, 51, and Adami Alaku, 61, who identified a void and chopped a hole into the ice.
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Tiisi Qisiiq dug a hole in the ice as his partner, Adami Alaku, rested.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
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Tiisi Qisiiq dug a hole in the ice as his partner, Adami Alaku, rested.
Tiisi Qisiiq dug a hole in the ice as his partner, Adami Alaku, rested.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times

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Underneath is a beautiful, eerie world of bending ice, glowing blue from the sunlight outside. The sound of trickling water fills the humid, salt-laced air. On my recent trip it was 20 degrees below zero (minus 29 degrees Celsius) but a balmy 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) beneath the ice..
An ice cave glowing from the sun above.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
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An ice cave glowing from the sun above.
An ice cave glowing from the sun above.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times

The men lowered themselves through the hole to the bay floor. The ground was covered with kelp, the occasional crab and edible clumps of roe from the fourhorn sculpin, which the Inuit call the ugly fish. But Mr. Qisiiq and Mr.. Alaku came for fat blue mussels that cling to the rocks. Using lamps to light the way, they pulled the frigid mussels free with their hands.
Harvesting mussels under the ice.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
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Harvesting mussels under the ice.
Harvesting mussels under the ice.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times

Before long, the sound of ticks and pops signaled the returning tide as it lifted the ice on the bay. Soon, the water would fill the caverns. The flood tide is deceiving, starting slowly until it rises more than a foot (30 centimeters) a minute. The men headed for the hole and climbed out into the clear, cold air.

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Mr. Qisiiq exiting the ice cave.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
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Mr. Qisiiq exiting the ice cave.
Mr. Qisiiq exiting the ice cave.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times

I first heard of mussel gathering under the ice when I lived in Shanghai and my son was given a childrens book called €œVery Last First Time,€� by the Canadian author Jan Andrews. It tells the enchanting tale of an Inuit girls first time under the ice alone. Ever since, Ive wanted to go under the ice myself. Now I have, and I saw the bay floors bounty brought to the surface.
Mr. Qisiiq, 61, checked his catch.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
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Mr. Qisiiq, 61, checked his catch.
Mr. Qisiiq, 61, checked his catch.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times

The books drawings depict a colorful, cavernous space beneath the ice, far different from the cramped and narrow confines that I discovered. The colder the winter, the thicker and more stable the ice and the larger the spaces left by the ebbing tide.

Mr. Qisiiqs mentor, Lukasi Nappaaluk, remembers gathering mussels as a child in caverns of ice with ceilings 20 feet high. But global warming is making the ice less predictable and more prone to buckling. Warm water currents thin the ice from below, making the snowmobile crossings increasingly dangerous.
Snowmobiles crossed the ice and headed back to town.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
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Snowmobiles crossed the ice and headed back to town.
Snowmobiles crossed the ice and headed back to town.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times

The mussels are a welcome winter treat these days, but at one time they were a lifesaving source of food during the lean frozen months. Raw meat, with its abundance of vitamins, has allowed the Inuit to live for centuries on a diet almost devoid of fruits and vegetables. The only preparation for the mussels is pulling off their beards, the strings of protein that mussels make to cling to rocks, and then rinsing them.

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Mussels ready to be washed in Mr. Qisiiqs kitchen.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times
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Mussels ready to be washed in Mr. Qisiiqs kitchen.
Mussels ready to be washed in Mr. Qisiiqs kitchen.CreditAaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times

The Inuit still eat a lot of €œcountry food,€� caribou and seal and whale and fish that they prefer to eat raw while sitting on the floor.