COMERN Project Description 05/04/02

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

1. Identification

Project Manager: Dr. Marc Lucotte Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Qc.

Research Title: Ecosystem study: Lakes of the Boreal forest

Theme Leader: Dr. Marc Lucotte

Collaborators: Dr. Robin Anderson Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St.John’s NF

Dr. Laurie Chan Department of Biological sciences, McGill University, Montréal, Qc

Stephen Fuller, M.Sc. Innu Nation, St.John’s NF

Reed Harris M.Sc. Tetra Tech Inc., Toronto, Ont.

Rick Hendricks, M.Sc. Innu Nation, St.John’s NF

Denis Laliberté, M.Sc. Ministère de l’Environnement du Québec, Québec, Qc.

Dr. Dolors Planas Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Qc

Roger Schetagne M.Sc. Hydro-Québec, Montréal, Qc

Dr. David Scruton Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St.John’s NF

Dr. Judy Snyder Health Canada, Ottawa, Ont.

Dr. Alain Tremblay Hydro-Québec, Montréal, Qc

2. Project summary

COMERN puts forward a full ecosystem approach related to the presence of Hg at all levels of the environment, from the aquatic ecosystems to human consumers. It is proposed here to relate the amounts of Hg in the diet of the target communities with 1) the biogeochemical characteristics of the overall 40 lakes used by these communities for fishing; 2) the intensity of usage of these lakes by the communities, and 3) their fish diet, consecutive Hg exposure and health effects, in regard with the lifestyle of participants and the presence of other contaminants. The frequent return of the scientific information gathered through this project to the concerned communities and the decision makers will help develop effective local policies and practices.

Biota of the selected lakes: Hg contents and structure of the food chain

Ii is proposed to establish an inventory of the fish species present the lakes, and to highlight the species usually most frequently consumed over a full year of fishing by the communities. Quantification of the Hg situation in the biota of each lake will be accomplished by the determination of Hg contents in all compartments of the aquatic food chain coupled with the determination of the gross organization of the lake food structure, from the benthic communities to the top predators.

Actual Hg situation compared to predictions by empirical models or mechanistic models

Approaches to associating Hg in different compartment of lakes with environmental factors can be broadly grouped as (1) empirical, e.g. regression analyses, or (2) mechanistic, process-based models. In our study we propose to test several empirical relationships and apply one mechanistic model to test their predictive capability across the broad set of conditions represented by the lakes under study. The predicted results given by the empirical models will be compared with the actual Hg situation reported for the lakes under study. This particular study has two major aims interacting within each other: 1) determining the overall particular Hg situation with respect to the global picture for a set of lakes of importance for each case community of COMERN, and 2) testing the robustness of the empirical models against the wide set of environmental conditions of the lakes, spread throughout Canada.

Diet, Hg exposure and health effects:

The objective is to identify the effects of Hg exposure in populations using the resources of boreal lakes and the modifying or modulating influence of other factors (other contaminants, different dietary elements, lifestyle, etc.) within the context of an understanding of the other components of the ecosystem. Data generated from the other COMERN studies will be used in the design of the questionnaires and the interpretation of the results.

Influence of the fishing intensity

Several studies have demonstrated that the intensity of fishing in a lake may significantly influence the Hg contents in the fishes that may be consumed by the communities. Most empirical models used to describe and predict Hg contents in lake biota do not take this factor into consideration. We aim to determine a gross estimation of the intensity of fishing in each lake selected in connection with the COMERN case communities. In Outaouais, 12 additional headwater lakes, where no or little fishing is done, will be sampled and act as reference lakes. Those additional lakes will be included in the long-term Hg monitoring effort of the Ministry of the Environment of Québec, aimed at identifying an improvement of the quality of the ecosystems following a decrease in Hg atmospheric inputs.

Details

During the summer 2001, the study was performed on 12 pristine headwater lakes in the Outaouais region. Out of those 12 lakes, only 8 were retained for further analysis, based on the presence of target fish species (walleye and northern pike). At the same time, another team was conducting a study on the health aspect of the project on fishermen, again in the Outaouais region. Those 5 lakes were selected in relationship with the presence of frequent usage by fishermen and their families and with their acceptance to participate to this study.

More research will be performed in the fall of 2001 and winter of 2002, again in the Outaouais region and in the Northern Labrador region. In the Outaouais region, the five lakes studied by the health team will be sampled for water chemistry, sediment and fishes. In the Northern Labrador region, following the very encouraging meeting held last August with the Innu Nation and Health committee in St-John’s, a certain number of lakes will be studied; those lakes will be selected in collaboration with the Innu Nation communities and the sampling will be performed in the winter during the ice fishing activities.

For the next years, it is planned to extend the research to lakes of Northern Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick, where promising contacts with First Nation communities’ spokesperson have been undertaken. With their help and knowledge, we will proceed, starting in 2002, to the biogeochemical characterization of the lakes most commonly used by these communities.

COMERN Head Office: Université du Québec à Montréal, President-Kennedy Bldg – Suite PK-7150 C.P.8888, Downtown STA (Qc) H3C 3P8. Phone: (514) 987-3601, Fax: (514) 987-3635

www.unites.uqam.ca/comern -- email:

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