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Field & Laboratory Capabilities
Field Capabilities:
North/South Consultants Inc. maintains a large inventory of aquatic sampling equipment and is capable of undertaking large-scale aquatic field investigations. North/South Consultants Inc. has undertaken field investigations in northern and southern Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Yukon Territory, Nunavut, and as far a field as the Beaufort Sea, Russia, the Dominican Republic, and the Republic of Togo. Our equipment inventory includes:
- Fish sampling gear - such as backpack and boat electrofishers, larval drift traps, hoop nets, gill nets, trap nets, seines, neuston samplers, radio-telemetry equipment, and Isaacs/Kidd samplers;
- Invertebrate/sediment sampling gear - including Ekman and Ponar dredges, Wildco core samplers, Bongo/Wisconsin nets, Hess samplers, and a benthic air lift sampler;
- Water quality/hydrology sampling gear - including current/flow meters, Kemmerer water samplers, various single and multi-parameter field meters for assessments of dissolved oxygen, conductivity, salinity, temperature, pH, and turbidity, temperature data loggers, and small field spectrometers for assessments of other water quality parameters such as ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, and chlorine;
- A variety of boats, trucks, and snowmobiles; and
- A wide array of miscellaneous sampling equipment such as GPS units, depth sounders, survival/floater suits, ice augers, macrophyte samplers, digital cameras, lap-top computers, and communications equipment such as radios and satellite phones.
Laboratory Capabilities:
North/South Consultants Inc. has a large laboratory facility, complete with a controlled environment chamber. Laboratory services include fish aging, and invertebrate and larval fish identifications.
Representative Projects:
Assessment of Sedimentation Rates in Split and
Wuskwatim lakes
Assessed sedimentation rates using sediment traps, Pb-210 geochronology (analysis by DFO), and TSS monitoring. Sediment trap samples were quantified and analyzed for organic content and particle size (pipette method).
Fish and Shellfish Aging
North/South specializes in the analysis of fin rays, otoliths, cleithra, opercles, and scales. Aging contracts have been conducted for numerous clients including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Manitoba Hydro, Province of British Columbia, Yukon Energy Corporation, Makavik Corporation, and a number of private environmental consulting firms.
Assessment of Stomach Contents
Analyzed stomach contents of beluga whales, seals, and lake trout for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Stomachs were assessed for fullness and contents were then identified and weighed (both wet and dry weights were obtained).
Identification and Enumeration of Benthic Samples
from Beaufort Sea Locations
Three contracts to identify (to species) and enumerate invertebrates in Van Veen, Ekman, and core samples from Tuktoyaktuk Harbour and several sites in the Beaufort Sea.
Identification and Enumeration of Zooplankton from
Freshwater, Estuarine, and Marine Sites along the
Beaufort Sea Coast
Four contracts were conducted to identify and determine the biomass of zooplankton in samples collected with a variety of sampling gear.
Taxonomic Keys to the Pelagic Fish Larvae of the
Beaufort Sea and Tuktoyaktuk Harbour
An extensive literature search was conducted and a compilation of existing larval fish specimens from past surveys in the Beaufort Sea, Tuktoyaktuk Harbour and adjacent areas were made. A final report including a series of dichotomous taxonomic keys, describing and illustrating the larval fishes of the Beaufort Sea, was published. A reference collection consisting of the specimens utilized in the key was also provided.
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