ARCTIC Preliminary Impacts of the James Bay Hydroelectric Project, Quebec

ABSTRACT. Flow alterations related to hydroelectric development have affected both the fish stocks and the Cree Indian subsistence fishery in the lower LaGrande River, northern Quebec. Evaluated against several years of baseline data, the initial biological impact of the project on fish populations,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: On Estuarine Fish, Fikret Berkes
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Key words
environmental impact
social impact
hydroelectric projects
northern development
James Bay
northern Quebec
subsistence fisheries
native harvesting
Coregonus clupeaformis
Coregonus artedii
Arctic
Indian
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.531.8786
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic35-4-524.pdf
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT. Flow alterations related to hydroelectric development have affected both the fish stocks and the Cree Indian subsistence fishery in the lower LaGrande River, northern Quebec. Evaluated against several years of baseline data, the initial biological impact of the project on fish populations, mostly whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and cisco (C. artedii), appeared to be relatively small. Nevertheless, fishing activity in the lower river and the estuary largely ceased from 1979 to 1981, due to physical modifications of traditional fishing areas and other social and economic effects related to the hydro project. Some fishermen modified their methods and continued harvesting in the affected area, but others abandoned the affected area and fished lakes and rivers along the recently constructed road network. It is concluded that earlier impact assessments fell short of predicting these impacts.

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