The Taku River Tlingit are concerned plans to service the proposed Tulsequah mine by river barge may hurt the salmon fishery, spokesperson Sandra Jack says.

Many members of the northern B.C. First Nation, based in Atlin, rely on the river's salmon as a source of food and money, Jack said in an interview Tuesday.

"That's their main source of income to work down there [so] to have that impacted by that air-cushioned barge actually running up and down the river, even if it's once a day, is going to have quite an impact on the 15, 16 people that are fishing down there," she said.

Earlier this week, Vancouver-based Redfern Resources said it had abandoned plans to build a 160-kilometre road from Tulsequah north to Atlin, deciding instead to use the river to transport goods to and from the mine site through Alaska.

Although Jack said the First Nation was happy the company decided against building a road through the wilderness of their traditional territory, it has reservations about the barge system as well.

The First Nation wants a full environmental assessment of the new plan because there are a lot of questions that need to be answered, she said.

The zinc-copper-silver-lead property was first mined in the early 1950s. Redfern wants to put the mine back into production within the next couple of years.