NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: biology, traditional food, fisheries assessment, wildlife monitoring, spawning areas, fish migration

Objective(s): The Peel River Fish study was initiated in 1998 to understand the timing of spawning migrations up the Peel River and to collect baseline information about these spawning populations. Coney (inconnu), whitefish (broad whitefish), crookedback (lake whitefish) and herring (arctic cisco) & least cisco are important subsistence species for people living in the Gwich'in Settlement Area. Local people with camps along the river are hired to catch and sample fish. The GRRB provides training and support, and reports the results of the work. Information from the study is being used to design a monitoring program that can detect changes in local fish stocks. The Travaillant Lake floy-tagging study is conducted on Travaillant Lake, the largest lake in the Gwich'in Setttlement Area and is an important area for fish and wildlife harvesting. Little is know about the fish populations in the lake and it is unclear whether the fish are landlocked or migratory. There is significant potential for development activities near the lake that may affect the lake and the fish. It is important to start gathering information so we can effectively predict and mitigate impacts of these activities. The return of tags and fish harvest information will provide fish movement information that will help determine whether fish populations in the lake system are migratory or land-locked.