Evaluation of the fish biochemistry data from the Slave River monitoring program, NWT, 1988--1994
Conference
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OSTI ID:392313
- Univ. of Waterloo, Ontario (Canada)
- Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada)
- Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, Yellowknife, Northwest Territory (Canada)
With the possibility of impending industrial development in Northern Alberta and within the Slave River Basin, scientists and resource managers felt it appropriate that background data be collected to determine baseline concentrations for the Slave River basin. This monitoring program incorporated a suite of studies analyzing various components in the environment including fish, water, bottom sediment and suspended sediment. One aspect of the fish component included biochemical effects studies which comprised a series of MFO analyses on lake whitefish, burbot, walleye and northern pike. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the biochemical component of the Slave River Monitoring program. Physiological changes (i.e, in the form of EROD, AHH, P450 activity), age, weight, condition factor, liver and gonadal somatic indices were looked at. Limited conclusions were made with the lake whitefish and burbot data due to a conflict with the spawning season (i.e., MFO activity was depressed during spawning), however, a good data set has been collected for walleye and northern pike. Hepatic MFO enzyme activity indicated that some differences were evident in fish sampled from the Slave River relative to background/control lakes, however, in many cases no differences were observed. Five years of biochemical effects studies have determined that the Slave River has low levels of induction suggesting a relatively pristine environment, but further studies are required to confirm this.
- OSTI ID:
- 392313
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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