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Agreement between MOE and Dr. Walter Momot of Lakehead University for funds to review and revise delisting criteria and environmental impairments in the Nipigon Bay, Thunder Bay, Jackfish Bay and Peninsula Harbour Areas of Concern

Retrieved from www.ijc.org/rel/focus/listdelist/.
Printed and reviewed 2004/07/05.

Records relate to water quality and fish research in Northwestern Ontario.

In 1986, the International Joint Commission’s Remedial Action Plan for the Great Lakes designated four Canadian areas of concern (AOC) in Lake Superior. The following areas were identified to have water quality impairments, Thunder Bay, Nipigon Bay, Jackfish Bay, and Peninsula Harbour (Marathon, Ontario). Pulp and Paper mills were identified as a major source of pollution. In Thunder Bay, the inventory and assessment projects were initiated as Stage 1 and completed by 1991. Stage 2, remedial strategies, completed in 2004. General issues: unpleasant foam, oily residue, and odour in waterways, high levels of chemicals in sediment and fish, loss of fish and wildlife habitat, impacts to sediment-dwelling organisms, and impacts on fish populations. Specific fish habitat concerns were water quality degradation, loss of wetland, degradation or loss of spawning substrate, and habitat destruction by dredging. Important fish population problems have occurred over time due to fish habitat loss from both physical and chemical changes on Lake Superior and its tributaries.
Many government agencies were involved with Lake Superior remedial action plans including the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Department of Fisheries Oceans (DFO), Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Lakehead Conservation Authority. Lakehead University was tasked with portions of the fish and fish habitat inventory in Stage 1 and providing an external review of the stage 2 plans for remedial action. Lakehead University sought Dr. Walter Momot, Professor of Ichthyology with this responsibility.

This collection is divided into three series involving the International Joint commissions Remedial Action Plans of the Canadian Portion of Lake Superior.
1) Kaministiquia River Project
a. Kaministiquia River External Reports
2) Northwestern Ontario Fish Inventory Collection
3) Remedial Action Plan Reviews

Further Reading;
• Cullis, Ken I., et al. Fish Community and Aquatic Habitat of the Kaministiquia River, 1987. Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources, 1987.
• Cullis, Ken I., et al. Fish Community and Aquatic Habitat of the Kaministiquia River, 1987. [Thunder Bay Remedial Action Plan], 1990.
• Dean, J. F., et al. Geofisheries: A New Concept for Determining Fish Habitat Suitability as Applied to Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis). Lakehead University. Dept of Biology, 1991.
• Hartviksen, Connie and Momot, Walter T. Fishes of the Thunder Bay Area of Ontario a Guide for Identifying and Locating the Local Fish Fauna. Thunder Bay Salmon Association. 1987.
• Hartviksen, Connie, and Walter T. Momot. Fishes of the Thunder Bay Area of Ontario: A Guide for Identifying and Locating the Local Fish Fauna. Wildwood Press, 1989.
• Momot, Walter T. Review and Recommendations Concerning Delisting Criteria and Beneficial Use Impairments for the Four North Coast of Lake Superior Areas of Concern. Dept. of Biology, Lakehead University, 2005.
• Momot, Walter T., and S. A. Stephenson. Threespine, Gasterosteus Aculeatus, and Fourspine, Apeltes Auadracus, Sticklebacks in the Lake Superior Basin. 2000.
• Momot, Walter T., and Sam A. Stephenson. Isostatic Rebound and Its Effects on Fish Colonization and Distribution in the Western Lake Superior Basin. National Research Council., 1993.
• Momot, Walter T., et al. Reproductive Guilds of Percids : Results of the Paleogeographical History of Ecological Succession. s.n.], 1977?
• Momot, Walter T., and Sam A. Stephenson. Atlas of the Distribution of Fish within the Canadian Tributaries of Western Lake Superior. Lakehead Centre for Northern Studies, 1996.
• Picard, Christopher Robert, et al. Effectiveness of Using Summer Thermal Indices to Classify and Protect Brook Trout Streams in Northern Ontario?
• Stephenson, Sam A. The distribution of fishes in the Thunder Bay area of northwestern Ontario since deglaciation, with special reference to the darters (Genus Etheostoma) and the Sibley Peninsula. Thesis (M.Sc.)--Lakehead University. 1991
• Stephenson, Sam A., and Walter T. Momot. Sibley Fishes. Lakehead Centre for Northern Studies, 1994.
• Stephenson, Sam A. Food Habits and Growth of Walleye (Stizostedion Vitreum), Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieui) and Northern Pike (Esox Lucius) in the Kaministiquia River, Thunder Bay, Ontario. s.n.], 1989.
• "FOR THE RECORD SALMON THREATENED." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada], 20 Feb. 1989, p. A12. Canada In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A164803910/CIC?u=ko_acd_con&sid=CIC&xid=329c59cd. Accessed 24 May 2019.

This fish inventory collection and species identification verification,

Connie Hartviksen (Fisheries Technician and Teaching/ Research Assistant shared inventory information for the new version of Fishes of Ontario by Radforth, 1944

Comments by Crossman of a newer version of fishes of Isle Royale namely Lagler & Goldham, 1982 Fishes of Isle Royale

One letter to Dr. N. E. Mandrak, Youngstown State University, Ohio to address request for Momot’s northern inventory database, Nov 3, 1999. News that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will be developing a freshwater fish distribution database.

1991 collection listing provided by Sam Stephenson

Important notes regarding changes in the taxonomic classification of Cyprinids by R. L. Mayden 1989 Univer Kans Mus. Nat Hist. Misc. Publ. #80 adopted by the American Fisheries Society in new “Common and Scientific Names” Book

Rare records of European flounder (Platichthys flesus) 1974-1996

“A summary of fish tagging in lake Nipigon: Results and implications from 33 years of study RBFU Report 98-1 January 1998 by Stephenson, Sam A. (please note Sam mentions to Walter that this report may be lost and has not been distributed thus it would be Rare/valuable piece in this collection)

Sam A. Stephenson (LU masters student working on his Ph.D., worked for Dr. W. Momot as teaching assistant for several years) report produced for Rocky Bay Fisheries Unit (RBFU) and the Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre. This Report should be available from the web site (http://www.aofrc.org/publications.html).

Includes black sturgeon area, Sibley peninsula, area east of Hwy 527(Armstrong Hwy)

Includes Lake Nipigon, Nipigon river, Obonga-Ottertooth, Gull bay, lakes, and tributaries.

Nipigon Bay tributaries of Lake Superior including Jackfish River.

Printed 03/21/94
An electronic database was noted to be unreadable due to database failure during programming

(includes US state specimen donations)

Printed 03/21/94

Walter Momot’s summary comments are included on note paper inserted in front of the Acknowledgements. comments on page 10

Note to Louise Wuorinen (Collections Development Librarian) a listing of journal articles and books in Walter Momot’s office library (LU biology department).

The Kaministiquia River designated as a high focused area to study due to the important link it has to water quality and fisheries. Kaministiquia River has had many spelling variants, including Kaministikwia. Kaministiquia, Ojibway name, means the meeting of rivers or a meandering river with three mouths (Kivi 1987) and was declared by Geography Board of Canada as the official spelling in 1982. The Kaministiquia or the “Kam” as it is known here locally orginates in the North at Dog Lake and, after a meandering course of 60 miles (95 km), it drains into Thunder Bay, of northwestern Lake Superior. It has many rapids and falls, notably the pictureseque Kakabeka Falls (154 feet [47 m] high), site of a major hydroelectric station. A private salmon fish hatchery was established 1986 upstream of Great Lakes Forest Products Ltd Pulp and Paper Mill at the base of the Ontario Power Generation Station outlet in Kakabeka Falls. The river divides into three channels as it enters Thunder Bay, providing deepwater shipping docks at the city of Thunder Bay.” In 1986, the Kaministiquia River received the highest discharge of industrial waste in the city of Thunder Bay. There is historical evidence of thousands of fish dying through the summer months due to oxygen depletion in the 48 kilometre stretch of the lower levels of the river.

Dr. Walter T. Momot of Lakehead University’s biology department accepted the task of investigating the Kaministiquia River Water quality barrier. The study focused on biophysical impacts on the aquatic species above and below the Great Lakes Pulp & Paper Mill of the Kaministiquia River. The preliminary investigations of the International Joint Fisheries Commission identified both physical and chemical impacts along the river. The physical components included the destruction of wetland areas or changes in the substrate composition, both of which were used formerly for spawning and nursery habitat by various aquatic species. Another important physical impact was water temperature fluctuations from effluent discharge and shipping ballast water at the Kaministiquia River delta. The Mission and McKellar rivers meet the Kaministiquia at this river delta. Chemical aspects of the study included the impacts of pollutants from both municipal and industrial sources and chemical lampricide use.

In addition to the biophysical impact study, the IJFC requested that the Ontario government look at impacts of over-exploitation, past and current commercial (lake whitefish and lake trout) and recreation fishery demands (walleye) and impacts of competition by invasive aquatic species. At this point of time, fifteen of the fifty-five species of fish in the Thunder Bay Area of Concern (AOC) were non-native species. This AOC had great potential for new exotic or invasive species. The first objective for this study was to obtain baseline knowledge of the fish community of the river. Stage 2 of the remedial process would assess the response of the fish community to rehabilitation efforts based on the pollution abatement measures of the Remedial Action Plan (RAP) applied to the lower reaches of the Kaministiquia River.

Dr. W. T. Momot worked cooperatively with Lake Superior Fisheries Management Unit (LSMU) of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and Ontario Ministry of the Environment (OMOE).

The results of this study can be found in the final report named “Fish Community and Aquatic Habitat of the Kaministiquia River.” The study documents the collection of 11, 663 fish that represented a total of 40 of the 44 species known to occur in the Kaministiquia River study area. The study area was divided into distinct reaches of the river name after a geographic landmark. These were named old fort reach (deep and long meandering section with a 3km oxbow, 141.5 ha), great lakes reach (7 km, 126.6 ha), mouth reach (2 km, 36.4 ha), Stanley reach (6 km, 76 ha), Rossyln reach (6km, 55.6 ha), Breukelman Reach (5km, 79.5 ha), Harstone reach (6km, 69.8 ha)and the Kakabeka reach (4km, 45 ha).

Gill net sampling with images of Walter Momot, Alan Dextrase, Rod Sein, and Bea Roddy. Sam Stephenson was part of the crew but may have been the photographer or absent that day.