Fish health and population assessment adjacent to Diavik mining activities on Lac de Gras.
Principal Investigator: Gray, Michelle A (1)
Licence Number: 13904
Organization: Canadian Rivers Institute
Licensed Year(s): 2005
Issued: Aug 22, 2005
Project Team: Cam Portt (Lead - field study, C Portt & Associates), Jennifer Reid (Field support, Canadian Rivers Institute), Franck Sirieix (Field support, Canadian Rivers Institute), (Field support , Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.), (Field support, Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.), Rutger Engelbertink (Field support, Canadian Rivers Institute), Mark Gautreau (Field support, Canadian Rivers Institute)

Project Description: Research team members will be transported to site via Diavik air charters. Field collections will be conducted from boats provided by Diavik. The different collection gear types will be gillnets, trapnets, and angling. The target sample sizes at each of three sites will be a maximum of 100 lake trout, and 100 whitefish or cisco (to be determined based on catch success rates). Twenty fish of each species at each site will be sacrificed for tissue sampling (max 120 fish for whole study), whereas the remaining fish will only be non-lethally measured for length and weight and returned to their site of capture. Two aboriginal staff members provided from Diavik that will be involved throughout the entire field collection. The research is coordinated with the annual Fish Palatability Study on Lac de Gras. Some of the fish collected under the latter study will be sampled to meet fish tissue requirements, in order to reduce the number of fish sacrificed between the two studies. Interactions will include cooperation with fish collection and sampling, with transfer of knowledge between the two groups regarding the techniques used for meeting the objectives of the different studies. Research results will be provided to Diavik Diamond Mines and Fisheries and Oceans. The study will be conducted at East basin, Lac de Gras, Diavik Diamond Mine Site