Fishery resources of the Athabasca River downstream of Fort McMurray, Alberta Vol I

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Bond, W. A.

• The fish populations of the Athabasca River downstream of Fort McMurray were sampled
  during the open-water period in 1976 and 1977. Fish were collected with gill nets, seines, and
  angling gear in order to identify the species present, to document their distribution and relative
  abundance, and to obtain samples for life history analysis. A conventional tagging program was
  undertaken to delineate migration patterns for the major fish species. Twenty-seven fish species
  were identified from the Athabasca River, 11 of which were common. Species diversity was
  greatest near Fort McMurray where all 27 species occurred, but decreased in a downstream
  direction as only 18 species were captured in the Delta study area. The Athabasca River and its
  tributaries provide important spawning, feeding, and rearing areas for a number of fish species
  and may play a major role in the maintenance of the fish populations of Lake Athabasca. Major
  upstream movements of walleye, goldeye, longnose suckers, and white suckers occur in the
  Athabasca River during early spring. These runs are initiated under ice-cover and reach the
  Mildred Lake study area before the ice leaves the Athabasca River. The walleye and sucker runs
  are spawning migrations and the early spring upstream movements of these species are followed
  by a more gradual downstream dispersal that continues throughout the summer. The entire lower
  Athabasca River serves as a summer feeding area for immature goldeye which enter the study
  area prior to break-up and leave in late autumn. These goldeye are thought to belong to the
  population that spawns in the Peace-Athabasca Delta. A large upstream spawning migration of
  lake whitefish occurs during September and October. Some whitefish return to Lake Athabasca
  shortly after spawning but others may overwinter in the Athabasca River. Troutperch, flathead
  chub, emerald shiners, lake chub, and spottail shiners are the major forage fishes in the study
  area. Floy tags were applied to 9311 fish during the study and the return rate to date is 4.2%.
  Results indicate that walleye, goldeye, lake whitefish, longnose suckers, and white suckers found
  in the lower Athabasca River belong to populations that overwinter in Lake Athabasca and the
  Peace-Athabasca Delta. The fry of many fish species appear in the Athabasca River during June
  and July. Most of these fry do not remain in the study area but are carried downstream to nursery
  areas in the lower Athabasca River or Lake Athabasca.

• Date created

  1980-01-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • AOSERP AF 4.3.2 Vol I
  • Alberta
  • Surveys
  • Fish
  • Oil sands
  • Tar Sands
  • Athabasca River
  • AOSERP
  • Tar sands
  • Oil Sands
  • Canada, Alberta, Fort McMurray

• Type of Item

  Report

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3JD4PW2C

• License

  This material is provided under educational reproduction permissions included in Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development's Copyright and Disclosure Statement, see terms at http://www.environment.alberta.ca/copyright.html. This Statement requires the following identification: \"The source of the materials is Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development http://www.environment.gov.ab.ca/. The use of these materials by the end user is done without any affiliation with or endorsement by the Government of Alberta. Reliance upon the end user's use of these materials is at the risk of the end user.