Study finds no trace of endangered fish DNA in Dartmouth lake
Environment minister requested info about Atlantic whitefish to help make decision on highway project
A major highway project that would link the Burnside area of Dartmouth, N.S., to Bedford has landed back on the environment minister's desk for approval.
The Transportation Department's proposal would see a nine-kilometre, four-lane highway and active transportation route built from Akerley Boulevard near Highway 118 in Dartmouth to Duke Street near Highway 102 in Bedford.
Last August, Environment Minister Iain Rankin said the information in the Transportation Department's environmental assessment was insufficient for him to make a decision on the project.
He requested more information about the highway's impact on fish and fish habitat at Anderson Lake, including the effects on Atlantic whitefish.
No fish found in lake
From 2005 to 2012, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans stocked Anderson Lake with thousands of endangered Atlantic whitefish, hoping it would produce a self-sustaining population. It didn't, and searches for the fish in 2016 turned up no sign of them.
Now, the only known population of the fish in the world is in three landlocked lakes near Petite Rivière on Nova Scotia's South Shore.
The search involved taking water samples from the lake and looking for fish DNA from skin, feces, eggs, sperm or bodily fluids. Environmental DNA testing can detect the presence of species even if individuals are found in very low numbers.
According to Transportation Department documents filed with the Environment Department last week, the study found no Atlantic whitefish DNA in the lake, meaning "it is unlikely that the fish are still present in the lake."
Despite that, the Transportation Department has proposed additional measures to protect the lake, which is generally about 100 metres to the north of the project. Those measures include sediment and erosion control, a spill containment system to move stormwater and spills away from the lake and a three-metre chain-link fence.
Public comments on the project will be accepted until July 18 and the environment minister has until Aug. 7 to make a decision.
Construction of the $150-million project is expected to take five years.