Karl Michelin poses for a portrait at the water's edge of Lake Melville in Rigolet wearing a dickie made of seal skin from a seal he hunted from the bay on Nov. 13, 2019.
The Muskrat Falls hydroelectric facility, located on lower on the Churchill River and near Happy Valley-Goose Bay, is seen on Nov. 17, 2019. The area was flooded a few months ago by Nalcor, a company owned by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Sandy Michelin rides her Ski-Doo to the gas pump for fuel with her 2-year old daughter, Josephine, on Nov. 13, 2019. The one pump in town is open for an hour at noon every other day for people to fuel up snowmobiles, four-wheelers, boats and occasionally a car. The town receives a fuel shipment twice a year.
The Michelin family camp is seen from above on the shore of Big Island about 10 miles east of Rigolet at the mouth of the Labrador Sea on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin prepares to launch his boat in to the mouth of the Labrador Sea from the Rigolet dock on Nov. 10, 2019. The Northern is seen over Michelin's left shoulder. The Northern is the local grocery store with much more than groceries. Food prices are nearly triple here in Rigolet making the need for country food that much greater for the Inuit of Rigolet.
Karl Michelin speeds past a fuel tanker docked at the Rigolet dock for one of two yearly fuel drops on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin heals in his bouts used to mark the anchors for fishing nets at his camp on Big Island in the Labrador Sea near Rigolet, Labrador, on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin battles the cold temperatures and frozen rope to free his gear used to catch salmon and scallops at his camp on Big Island in the Labrador Sea on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin steadies his .223-caliber rifle on the window of his boat as he scans the water for a jar seal as hunts the the waters of the Labrador Sea near his camp on Big Island, Labrador, on Nov. 10, 2019.
Jar and harp seal fill the mouth of the Lake Melville at the Labrador Sea near Rigolet, Labrador, on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin holds on to a jar seal he just shot from about 100 yards from his boat in the Labrador Seas near Rigolet on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin, an Inuit hunter, hauls his jar seal aboard his boat at the mouth of the Labrador Sea near the small Inuit town of Rigolet, Labrador, on Nov. 10, 2019. Seal meat is staple in the Inuit diet providing food year-round for families in Rigolet. The fear of rising methyl mercury levels from the construction of mega-dams on the Churchill River worries the Inuit of Labrador. High grocery prices, sometimes three times higher than the national average, makes seal meat that much more valuable to First Nation people. Aside from the cultural connection, seal meat is an affordable option to the grocery store.
Karl Michelin guides a jar seal to the shore of the Labrador Sea to be cleaned on Nov. 10, 2019. Michelin harvests about a dozen seals a year to feed his family and Inuit elders in the community. Seals carry the highest amounts of methyl mercury because they are at the top of the food chain in the Labrador Sea. Consuming too much of this meat can cause illness.
Karl Michelin, of Rigolet, takes a break from dressing a jar seal he hunted in Lake Melville near Big Island where he has a hunting camp on Nov. 10, 2019. Michelin supplements much of his food source with seal meat. The meat is used to feed him and his family along with Inuit elders in the community who can no longer hunt as easily as when they were younger. Seal is a staple in the Inuit diet, a food source that is being threatened by effects of the Churchill Falls Dam that empties in to Lake Melville, one of North America's largest estuaries.
Karl Michelin dresses a jar seal on the shore of the Labrador Sea after hunting the aquatic creature on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin pulls his boat ashore as a tanker sits at the Rigolet dock offloading fuel for the winter on Nov. 10, 2019.
Karl Michelin hauls one of his boats to storage with his four-wheeler on Nov. 11, 2019.
Karl Michelin prepares seal liver with onions and fresh water in the blue container at home in Rigolet on Nov. 12, 2019. Michelin harvests about 12 seals a year that feeds his family and Inuit elders in the community. The remote Inuit village is powered by diesel fuel and not hydropower that is being produced up river. Residents have to get water from the water pump house in the center of town because the ground water is polluted.
Karl Michelin prepares seal liver with onions at home in Rigolet on Nov. 12, 2019. Michelin harvests about 12 seals a year that feeds his family and Inuit elders in the community.
Karl Michelin eats seal liver with onions at home in Rigolet on Nov. 12, 2019. Michelin harvests about 12 seals a year that feeds his family and Inuit elders in the community.
Karl Michelin eats seal liver and onions at home in Rigolet with his 2-year old daughter, Josephine, on Nov. 12, 2019. Michelin harvests about 12 seals a year that feeds his family and Inuit elders in the community.
Karl Michelin cleans his 25-plus-year-old .223-caliber rifle at his kitchen table after a seal hunt on Nov. 13, 2019.
Karl Michelin heads to town on his Ski-Doo with his daughter Josephine, 2, in Rigolet, Labrador, on Nov. 13, 2019.
Airborealis arrives in Rigolet with supplies on a Havolan-Beaver on Nov. 16, 2019. Supplies can only be delivered by plane this time of year. Another reason why the people of Rigolet rely so heavily on country food that can harvest. It's not uncommon to go a few weeks without a supply run.
The Muskrat Falls hydroelectric facility, located on lower on the Churchill River and near Happy Valley-Goose Bay, is seen on Nov. 17, 2019. The area was flooded a few months ago by Nalcor, a company owned by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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