J. Blair Dunn

Blair joined the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 1983 with the Fisheries Management sector as a Fishery Management Technician with the Fish and Marine Mammal Management Section in the Central and Arctic Region. His primary work at that time was the assessment of fish stocks (e.g. lake trout, lake whitefish) in the NWT. In 1986 his work responsibilities changed to include the assessment of marine mammals stocks. Primary work was to monitor the subsistence hunts of narwhal, including the collection of biological information and various tissue samples, from harvested whales in Nunavut. This work later expanded to also include collections from beluga and bowhead subsistence hunts.

Blair's position changed in 2007 to a Marine Mammal Research Technician when he moved to the Science sector and into the Stock Assessment section of the Arctic Aquatic Research Division, reporting to Dr. Rob Stewart. His work continued with the collection of hunter information and biological sampling from the subsistence harvest of marine mammals in Nunavut. The work involved the co-ordination of community based collections as well as participating in active field collections, in particular the annual bowhead hunts. Later his work responsibilities expanded to also include: co-ordination of and participation in aerial surveys for narwhal, beluga, bowhead, and seals; tagging, biopsy collection, and aerial surveys of walrus (1999, 2005 to 2012, 2014, and 2017). He currently reports to Dr. Steve Ferguson.