080121-08MN006-Sabina Hackett River Project Proposal ... - NIRB

Description of the Existing Environmentin 2007, historical site-specific fish community information is available from 2001 (Rescan2002). These baseline data were collected near the proposed port site as part of the BIPRbaseline studies.6.2.8.1 Marine Fish CommunityThe marine fish community of the Bathurst Inlet port study area is representative of an Arcticmarine ecosystem. Many of these fish species serve an important role in the ecological,economic and cultural health of the region. The fish communities of Bathurst Inlet are not wellknown because of the remote location of the inlet, small human population, and the absence ofsignificant commercial fisheries. Fish of Bathurst Inlet have been sampled on an opportunisticbasis by scientists of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Museum ofNature (Hunter et al., 1984). Other authors have reported fish captured in Bathurst Inlet as partof larger-scale surveys of the fisheries resources of Arctic Canada (Richardson, 1836; Johansen,1926; Walters, 1953; Boulva and Simard, 1968; Renewable Resources Consulting Services Ltd.,1972; Friesen, 1975; Farquharson, 1976; Stewart and MacDonald, 1978; Sutherland and Golke,1978; McAllister et al., 1987; Yaremchuk et al., 1989; Kristofferson et al., 1990; Riewe, 1992;McGowan et al., 1993; Stewart et al., 1993; Stewart, 1994).During the 2001 baseline study (Rescan 2002), marine fish were sampled from three sites alongthe shoreline of the Bathurst Inlet peninsula. Sampling gear used included minnow traps, sinkingand floating gillnets, sinking and floating longlines and a beach seine. The use of thiscombination of gear was designed to capture a wide range of fish species and size classes.A total of 177 fish from 11 species were captured during the 2001 fisheries survey in BathurstInlet (Table 6.2-5). Fourhorn sculpin was the dominant species, followed by Arctic cisco, starryflounder, saffron cod, Arctic flounder, Pacific herring, broad whitefish, rainbow smelt, Arcticchar, ogac and lake trout. The fish captured were mainly nearshore, shallow-water species with arelatively large component of anadromous species and species with low tolerance for salinity(compared to the historical records available for Bathurst Inlet). Most fish captured in thenearshore zone were demersal and moved along the sea bottom. All species captured arecommon fish in Canada’s Arctic waters, and none are threatened or endangered.6.2.8.2 Marine Fish HabitatStudies of marine fish habitat were conducted at the Bathurst Inlet Port site in 2001 and in 2007(Rescan 2002; 2008b).Shoreline habitat at the port site is dominated by a shallow water shelf which extends at slope of8% to a depth of approximately 10 m and a distance of 120 m offshore. Beyond this distance, asteep gradient of 30% extends to depths greater than 40 m.Sediment sources in Bathurst Inlet include two rivers: Western River and No-Name River.Western River enters Bathurst Inlet at its southernmost point, and No-Name River entersBathurst Inlet on the west side of the peninsula where the port site will be located. Sedimententers the inlet from these sources primarily during freshet in spring. This sediment settles to thebottom of Bathurst Inlet and provides a fine, marine clay substrate that likely supports flatfish,January 2008 Hackett River Project – Project Proposal Sabina Silver CorporationReport Version B.1 6–13 Rescan Environmental Services Ltd. (Proj. #833-2)