Wandering coneys surprise scientists

New information about a popular food fish may force changes to harvest and management plans in the N.W.T..

Scientists have discovered they don't know as much about the inconnu, or coney, as they originally thought.

They believed the fish inhabited three distinct regions, and came from different stocks that didn't mingle.

However, fish tagged in B.C. have been found found in the Delta and in Great Slave Lake. That's led scientists to the conclusion the fish actually travel between areas, and make up one large stock.

"So we really have to be careful when we manage these things and when we're harvesting," says Sam Stevenson of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

"Only take what you need because you may really be interfering with someone else's harvest somewhere else."

The inconnu makes a popular meal, especially in the Mackenzie Delta, where people catch upwards of 9,000 a year.

Stevenson says seperate harvest management plans need to change.

He says a territory-wide plan would be best for managing coney now they know the fish mingle all over the region.