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Jackfish Bay Area of Concern

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Jackfish Bay AOC Image

Jackfish Bay AOC Map

General Information

Where?

The Jackfish Bay Area of Concern (AOC) is located on the north shore of Lake Superior and consists of a 14-kilometre stretch of Blackbird Creek and two small lakes. The town of Terrace Bay is the closest community.

Why was this area listed?

Major environmental concerns in the area included:

  • health of the fish communities including habitat
  • health of the wildlife communities
  • degraded aesthetics
  • condition of the sediments and the aquatic communities which utilize them

What is being done? How is it being done?

In order to improve the environmental conditions noted above, a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) has been developed for Jackfish Bay. The Jackfish Bay RAP is a partnership between the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario, with support from the Jackfish Bay Public Advisory Committee (PAC). Many linkages and alliances have been developed as part of the RAP process between the RAP team and various other groups in the community including private citizens, recreational groups, industry and municipalities.

The remedial action planning, implementation, and reporting process, which was initiated in 1988, involves the following three stages, each of which, when completed, results in a corresponding report:

  1. defining the problem (Stage 1 Report)
  2. developing a strategy of action to rehabilitate and protect ecosystem quality (Stage 2 RAP Report)
  3. implementing the strategy of remedial and preventive actions (i.e., the RAP), and monitoring and confirming the eventual restoration of the impaired beneficial uses (Stage 3 Report)

In order to determine the actions required for remediation of the AOC, both the use impairments and water use goals, developed by the PAC, were utilized. A number of potential solutions were developed and assessed in an Options Discussion Paper. Natural recovery, where the ecosystem is allowed to recover on its own, was selected as the preferred strategy.

This was decided due in large part to achievement of higher standards of effluent quality in the AOC between 1987 and 1997. Acceptance of this plan is based on the fact that recovery is already occurring in many areas.

HIGHLIGHT of the RAP

The Government of Canada's Great Lakes Sustainability Fund and its partners have made significant contributions to sediment rehabilitation options and assessment of restoration of lake trout spawning habitat.

 
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