As part of Arctic Canadian’s commitment to sustainability, the fish-out plan includes working with the community and finding innovative ways to reduce our environmental footprint. While part of the process involves removing as many fish as possible from the lake, the Environmental Team will also collect and analyze the fish and their habitat associations to support an understanding of Arctic lakes and fish communities. This information will be used to inform future protocols for Arctic Canadian fish-out projects in the Canadian North.
“The timing of the fish-out is currently planned for mid-June, once the ice breaks up and is expected to wrap up by the end of July,” said Laura Pacholski, Environment Management Team Lead at Arctic Canadian. “Community involvement is an important part of this process, as community input will determine which fish are suitable for human consumption and which fish could be used for dog food by communities.”
Because Point Lake is not a large body of water, it houses a small population of lake trout and therefore the fish-out plan estimations predict it will not yield a substantive number of fish for human consumption – approximately 275 fish are estimated to inhabit Point Lake.
“While we are excited to move forward with the Point Lake Project, we want to make sure proper protocols for environmental preservation are at the forefront of our operations,” says Sheila Chernys, Head of Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Communities at Arctic Canadian. “We look forward to continue working with our Northern communities and finding opportunities where both Arctic Canadian and community members can benefit from the success of our operations.”
