The Whitefish River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the Deline District, Sahtu Region

Sahtu Region

The Sahtu Region is one of five administrative regions in the Northwest Territories in Canada. The region consists of five communities with the regional office situated in Norman Wells. With the exception of Norman Wells the communities are predominately First Nations.-Communities:The Sahtu Region...

, Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is in the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

 and Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 drainage basins

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

, is a tributary of Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake is the largest lake entirely within Canada , the third or fourth largest in North America, and the seventh or eighth largest in the world...

 and has a watershed of 4740 square kilometres (1,830 sq mi).

Course

The river begins at an unnamed lake and flows west then southwest to the west side Man Drowned Himself Lake. It exits the lake at the south, takes in the unnamed left tributary arriving from Kekwinatui Lake, and heads southwest, west and northwest. It passes Whitefish River Airfield on the left bank of the river valley, and reaches its mouth at Bydand Bay on the Smith Arm of Great Bear Lake, about 14 kilometres (9 mi) south of Ford Bay Airport

Ford Bay Airport

Ford Bay Airport , is a private aerodrome at Ford Bay, Northwest Territories, Canada. Prior permission is required to land except in the case of an emergency....

 and 110 kilometres (68 mi) northeast of the community of Norman Wells

Norman Wells, Northwest Territories

Norman Wells is the regional centre for the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada...

. Great Bear Lake empties via the Great Bear River

Great Bear River

The -long Great Bear River, which drains the Great Bear Lake westward through marshes into the Mackenzie River, forms an important transportation link during its four ice-free months. It originates at south-west bay of the lake. The river has irregular meander pattern wide channel with average depth...

 and the Mackenzie River into the Arctic Ocean.

Hydrology

A hydrometric

Hydrometry

Hydrometry is the monitoring of the components of the hydrological cycle including rainfall, groundwater characteristics, as well as water quality and flow characteristics of surface waters...

station operated near the mouth of the Whitefish River between 1977 and 1992. It recorded a mean annual flow of 13.6 cubic metres (480.3 cu ft) per second.