
286 Environmental Impact Analysis
The marine food web was deemed a critical component of the ecological
assessment endpoint selection; therefore, impact on the food web, both toxic
and habitat alteration effects from tailings disposal, was a major concern.
Thus the make-up dynamics, and relationships of the food web were criti-
cal components of the environmental analysis impact prediction conceptual
model (see Section 5.3.1) and the ecological risk assessment conceptual site
model. However, the academic and expansive food web developed for the
EIS (Figure 7.4) was unusable for the risk assessment and measurement end-
point approach used in