Wood Buffalo Fish Relocation Program

Client:

Confidential

Location:

Wood Buffalo, Alberta, Canada

Dates:

2017 – 2025

Background:

Hatfield was contracted to initiate advance planning for a phased, multi-year fish relocation program in Wood Buffalo, Alberta. The Fisheries Act Authorization for the project required fish to be removed from watercourses and waterbodies and relocated to a habitat outside of the disturbance footprint prior to the initiation of dewatering activities.

Services Provided:

Hatfield developed a Fish Relocation Plan that presented a detailed multi-year implementation strategy to relocate fish in advance of site preparation activities planned for each subsequent year. Hatfield executed this plan over six consecutive open-water field seasons (2019 through 2024), with all captured fish relocated to an adjacent and undisturbed watercourse. Fishing effort and fish capture numbers were logged using digital data collection forms that were uploaded and processed each evening with automated scripts, to maintain a client-facing web map that depicted real-time clearance progress at each fishing segment.