The Dominion - fisheries

Where Have All The Fishes Gone?

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 22:38:57 +0000

Newfoundland losing lakes to mining waste

The reclassification of the two lakes in Newfoundland marks the first time that Schedule 2 was used to allow a known fish-bearing water body to be used as a tailings impoundment area. photo: Maretarium

The death knell of Trout Pond and an unnamed lake in central Newfoundland's Exploits River headwaters sounded quietly on October 18. The two lakes became the first casualties of Environment Canada's amendment to the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER)--a regulation under the Fisheries Act--that adds these water bodies to the list under 'Schedule 2.' Schedule 2 allows the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and Environment Canada to exempt the companies from the law that protects fish habitat, notably Section 35 and Section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act, which prohibit the harmful alteration or destruction of fish habitat and the deposit of deleterious (toxic or harmful) substances into waters inhabited by fish. Mining companies need only get water bodies added to the Schedule 2 list to legalize the use of natural water bodies as 'tailings impoundment areas' or mine waste disposal sites.

DFO and Environment Canada officials are justifying the amendments by altering nearby areas to create new fish habitat as part of an 'environmental compensation plan.'

The threats of this amendment to Newfoundland's largest watershed, the Exploits River system--one of the most visited natural destinations in the province--has many concerned, including Dr. John Gibson, a former DFO biologist who lives in Newfoundland. Gibson knows the two lakes that have recently been added to Schedule 2 to be used by Aur Resources' Duck Pond copper and zinc mining operation. He notes that, "The two lakes have populations of Atlantic salmon and trout, and associated wildlife, such as beavers, otters, and waterfowl, all of which will be poisoned. The life of the mine is expected to be six years, but the ponds will become toxic waste sites in perpetuity. Over that time, there is a possibility that there will be leakage of copper and zinc, which are toxic to fish, and if the retaining dam breaks there will be massive mortality of salmon down the Exploits River."

Gibson reviewed the mining company's environmental compensation plan and calls it, "totally inadequate and merely an excuse to allow the mine to pollute the two lakes. Trout Pond has effectively been privatized for the mining company to use as a toxic waste dump. The Fisheries Act, previously held in esteem, has been considerably weakened."

The Trout Pond Action Group, a local coalition of concerned individuals and environmental groups from across Newfoundland, contends that Aur Resources, the local Environment Canada Environmental Protection Branch, the Newfoundland Department of Environment and Labour, and the DFO did not fulfill their legal obligations to examine properly alternative mine waste disposal options. The group does not believe that the best option is sacrificing Trout Pond and putting the Exploits River at risk. Exploits River has had $30 million of federal money invested in it to enhance salmon habitat.

Previously, artificial impoundments were the accepted method of disposing of mine waste; critics of the plan worry that mining companies are finding the practice too expensive and have chosen to go back to the old days of dumping waste in natural water bodies. At the Louvicourt copper-zinc mine in Quebec, where Aur Resources is a 30 per cent owner as well as the mine manager, man-made structures hold the mine waste. Aur Resources and Canadian regulatory authorities have called it a viable alternative to the destruction of fresh water bodies.

But Maggie Paquet, a biologist in British Columbia who participated in the revision process of the MMER, says, "We reviewed all the public documents made available to us and could find no evidence that Environment Canada provided any advice to Aur Resources about less-damaging waste disposal technologies at this mine."

Pages 23 to 25 of the project's 2001 Environmental Impact Statement contains 11 lines of text, one map, and one chart based on a Multiple Account Analysis that concludes that the destruction of Trout Pond is the best alternative for mine waste disposal. This conclusion appears not to have been challenged by any of the provincial or federal government reviews of the project's environmental assessment.

Aur Resources bought the majority of the mine property in 2002 and mulled over ways to minimize costs to exploit their small but rich deposit. Aur finally made the decision to go ahead with the current plan in December 2004. What is not known is whether a bond has been posted that is adequate to cover costs of perpetual monitoring of ground and surface waters around the mine and perpetual maintenance of the dams to keep the highly acidic and toxic mine waste from contaminating the Exploits River watershed.

These are just some of the issues that The Trout Pond Action Group say should have been addressed in public consultations. Meagre public consultations regarding this project occurred several years ago and reached few people. They were conducted before mining regulations and standards were amended in 2002. Many affected parties, including residents, recreational fishermen, tourism industry workers and aboriginal groups, were not informed about the potential environmental impacts of this project. Aur Resources did not have to hold new consultations when it took over the mine. Environment Canada employees Chris Doiron and Patrick Finlay of the Mines and Minerals Branch claim they did not become aware of the project's intention to use Trout Pond as a mine waste disposal site until February 2005. There are concerns that the amendment revision process to include Trout Pond and the other lake on Schedule 2 was hastened to accommodate Aur Resources' desire to start operations in 2006.

Trout Pond is not the first natural water body in Canada to be used as a tailings impoundment area. For decades, mining companies dumped waste in a number of water bodies across Canada. But in 2002, changes under the Fisheries Act aimed at restricting the practice were passed.

Schedule 2 was also added to the MMER in 2002. This happened without any wide public consultation. Schedule 2 legalized historic mines' use of lakes--ostensibly, those lakes were non-fish-bearing arctic and alpine lakes--and also allowed new mines to dump waste into fish-bearing waters. The reclassification of the two lakes in Newfoundland marks the first time that Schedule 2 was used to allow a known fish-bearing water body to be used as a tailings impoundment area.

Environment Canada confirms that at least nine other mine projects in British Columbia, Nunavut, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories are seeking similar amendments to use lakes for waste disposal.

Environmental organizations and some First Nations are currently considering legal interventions to do away with Schedule 2 before more mining companies sacrifice freshwater lakes and fish-bearing water bodies.

Activists hope the loss of two lakes in Newfoundland to mining waste isn't the beginning of a new trend. Tracy Glynn learns

Of Sturgeon and Hydro Québec

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 23:03:28 +0000

Food from the rivers we are losing

Illustration by Sylvia Nickerson

On Saturday, November the 5th, 2005, Hydro Quebec flooded another 600 square kilometres of James Bay territory to fill in a new reservoir across the Eastmain River. Hydro-electric development has destroyed the Eastmain river and with it the spawning grounds of the fish that used to swim there, including the lake sturgeon.

The sturgeon has been called "the most valuable fish in the world." Its eggs, or caviar, sell for an astonishing $7,000 a kilo. Around the world, caviar is considered a culinary delicacy and an aphrodisiac. But there's a lot more to sturgeons than their economic value and powers to increase human sexual confidence.

Sturgeons are known to be friendly and to actually like humans; they seem to enjoy human presence. They grow slowly - lake sturgeons grow to be a metre long - taking seven to eight years to reach sexual maturity. And they eat slowly. They dine on the bottom of lakes, riverbeds and oceans, tasting their way across the muddy bottoms feasting on insect larvae, worms, crayfish, snails, and other small fish as they migrate up to their spawning beds.

The species of sturgeon that inhabited the Eastmain is likely as old as the river itself. The life span of a sturgeon is anywhere from 50 to 150 years long, but sturgeons as a species are so old they knew the dinosaurs. The species is thought to be 80 million years old. They are called living fossils and act as a vital link to our pre-historic past.

Almost all kinds of sturgeon are endangered because of over-fishing, water pollution and hydroelectic development. HydroQuebec is trying to develop new spawning runs for the sturgeon and other fish whose spawning grounds have been destroyed by the Eastmain dam. But previous dam and dike developments for hydroelectricity in the James Bay have lead to unhealthy levels of mercury in the fish in the area.

This sturgeon recipe is an old one from Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery. Written by Eliza Leslie the cookbook was first published in 1837. I chose this recipe because it is simple and I imagine it to be best enjoyed somewhere between the 51st and 54th parallel, cooked on an open fire near the shores of a mighty river, the way sturgeon was probably enjoyed by the James Bay Cree for so many thousands of years.

Carefully take off the sturgeon's skin, as its oiliness will give the fish a strong and disagreeable taste when cooked. Cut from the tail-piece slices about half an inch thick, rub them with salt, and broil them over a clear fire of bright coals. Butter them, sprinkle them with cayenne pepper, and send them to table hot, garnished with sliced lemon. Squeeze lemon over the fish before eating.

According to Environmental Defense's Oceans Alive, the most eco-friendly sturgeon to eat for its meat and for its caviar is farmed white sturgeon from the Pacific coast.

Carole Ferrari dishes up a recipe for Sturgeon with bittersweet morsels of background on the ancient fish's fate.

"...where a son cannot work for his father"

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 09:10:25 +0000

Métis fishing rights and the Ontario government

Natives fishing Sault Ste. Marie circa 1869. William Armstrong/National Archives

"But if there is justice, as I still hope, oh dear, it seems to me I have become insane to hope still." -- Louis Riel, 1885

The legendary Métis leader Louis Riel lamented the injustice suffered by his people, of which he is the greatest exemplar, having been found guilty by the settler court "of a crime the most pernicious and greatest that man can commit": high treason. For this Riel was hanged in 1885.

The Métis are a people of mixed heritage, originally designated as mix of French and First Nation ethnicity. The definition has since been expanded to include all ethnicities mixed with natives. This definitional unclarity, however, formed the basis of the Ontario government case against Métis hunter Steve Powley.

Powley and his son Roddy were charged in 1993 under the Ontario Game and Fish Act after they killed a moose near Bawating (Sault Ste Marie) without a moose-hunting license.

Powley argued that section 35 (2) of the 1982 Canada Act delineated aboriginal rights as belonging to "aboriginal peoples of Canada," which includes Métis peoples. In the landmark R. v. Powley decision, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that Powley and his son have the same hunting rights as a "full-status Indian."

The ruling was specific to Powley and his Métis community but no expert seriously considers that one Métis community enjoys greater rights than another Métis community. Therefore, the ruling is considered to embrace all 300,000 Métis citizens in communities across Canada.

Despite the Powley decision, Ontario authorities continue to stymie Métis rights.

Allan Bjornaa Jr. is a member of the Ontario Métis and Aboriginal Association from Batchewana Bay, Ontario. Batchewana First Nation peoples are indigenous to the Great Lakes region and at Bawating. His father, Allan Bjornaa Sr., is a Batchewana First Nation fisherman who catches whitefish and lake trout in Lake Superior.

Bjornaa Jr. released an email sent out on 24 January 2005 from David McLeish of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). McLeish stated, "In the case of Aboriginal communities engaged in commercial fishing activities, it is MNR's preference to negotiate consensus arrangements, leading toward [a treaty], which can include provision for the inclusion of non-community members in the fishery."

Bjornaa Jr. states, "Fishing has been the lifeblood of not only my family but my entire community of Batchewana Bay. Up until recently, I was allowed to work for my father, but, as it stands now, the Ministry of Natural Resources has imposed a ban on non-Batchewana Band members on their boats. I cannot find another instance anywhere in Canada where a son cannot work for his father. The MNR has threatened me with criminal charges and has threatened my father with the seizure of his equipment. The only thing criminal here is the blatant discrimination the government is showing towards not only Batchewana Band members but proud Métis fisherman as well."

An MNR employee confirmed the policy against non-Aboriginals on commercial fish boats. Attempts to achieve further confirmation by phone and email went unanswered before press time.

Bjornaa Jr. wonders why he cannot fish if Métis rights are indeed enshrined in the settler's constitution. He asks, "Is it a crime for a native to marry a white woman? Should his children suffer because the woman he loves is white?"

There is a distrust of government.

"The government has went too far in trying to govern what they have no right to govern," says Bjornaa Jr. "Native fishing should be governed by natives. My father is a good man and is concerned with preservation of the lakes. He has showed us to respect the lake."

"This is not only affecting my family but all native fishermen here. There are boats that are sitting at the harbor because the government is forcing boat owners to discriminate against Métis and whites alike."

Bjornaa Jr. supports this with an anecdote: "My father tried to post a job listing at the local government job bank with the stipulation that 'Batchewana Band members need only apply.' He was told that he could not post that listing because it was 'discriminating based on race.' My father then told them that it was the government that was forcing him to be a 'racist' as they put it."

On his father's boat Bjornaa Jr. worked with other "non-status natives and whites." Bjornaa Jr. tells that there was camaraderie among fishermen regardless of ethnicity. Governmental officials, however, are dividing the fishermen along ethnic lines.

Currently there are cases involving Métis fishing rights that are in the Ontario settler justice system. Perhaps Riel's "insane" hope persists.

When can a son not work for his father? Kim Petersen examines government involvement in native fishing rights.

Iceland Returns to Whaling

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 21:07:53 +0000

Iceland has decided to risk its reputation and its tourism industry to begin whaling again, a practice it had stopped since 1989. The move comes amid protests from conservation and animal rights organizations.

Minke whales are being hunted by Icelandic whalers for "scientific purposes". photo: International Fund for Animal Welfare

The government of Iceland has defended the move, saying that the harvest of 38 minke whales is required for scientific data. Stefen Asmundsson, the country's whaling commissioner, said, " It's obvious to anyone that whales are very big animals and they eat a lot-a lot of fish. Precisely the effect they are having on fish stocks around Iceland, we don't know. We need better data". In particular, there is concern that regional cod stocks are threatened.

Leading the charge against the whaling expedition is the International Fund for Animal Welfare. IFAW spokesperson, Gill Sanders said in a press release that, " Iceland's return to this cruel and needless slaughter flies in the face of decades of international conservation efforts". The press release goes on to state that, "Iceland's international credibility and economy may be among the ultimate victims. The country has whaled in the past but was forced to give up its practice in 1989 after an international boycott targeted Icelandic fishing products, a move that could very well be repeated.

Although Iceland is now a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the move to kill 38 minkes will not result in their expulsion. A legal loophole allows countries to whale for scientific purposes, something Norway and Japan uses to harvest as many as 500 whales per year. (BBC, IFAW)

-LESLIE BUCKLE

Dragged into Court

Fri, 11 Jul 2003 06:31:35 +0000

Ecology Action Centre challenges DFO on dragnet fishing policy

A small NGO in Halifax is taking the Canadian government to court. The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) is accusing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) of violating its own legislation to protect fish habitat. DFO's decision to reopen George's Bank, an important fishing ground in Atlantic Canada, to dragger boats, without first conducting an environmental assessment, spurred the EAC to take legal action in 2001. The case is expected to come before a judge this summer.

According to the Ecology Action Centre, dragging heavy nets along the sea floor has a similar impact on marine habitat that clearcutting has on a forest. illustration: Ecology Action Centre

Section 35(1) of the Canadian Fisheries Act states that, "no person shall carry on any work or undertaking that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat." According to Mark Butler, Marine Issues Coordinator at EAC, dragging heavy nets along the sea floor has a similar impact on marine habitat that clearcutting has on a forest, "dragging homogenizes the ocean floor, removing both biological and physical features, be it corals and sponges or humps and bumps. Juvenile cod and other groundfish species rely on the cover the bottom provides to hide from predators." The EAC accuses DFO of ignoring its own mandate by consistently refusing to evaluate the impacts that dragging, and other fishing methods, have on marine habitat.

A report published this May by the Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI), titled Shifting Gears: Addressing the Collateral Impacts of Fishing Methods In US Waters, may add weight to the EAC's case against dragging. The report's findings are based on a survey of fishers, regulators, scientists and conservationists who compared and ranked the level of damage 10 major fishing gears cause to the marine environment. Dragging topped the list as most harmful.

Don Gordon, a DFO scientist, has read the report and concedes that there is now a wide consensus that dragging is the most damaging method for catching groundfish. However, he does not know how DFO will respond in terms of fisheries management policies.

Terry Farnsworth, a fisher from Digby Nova Scotia says his catch is down 75% from last year.

Butler believes that "they [DFO] do not want to address the issue of gear because it would be a departure from long established policies and interrupt the status quo." Critics argue that after the collapse of the cod fisheries, DFO might reconsider the status quo.

According to Butler, however, little has changed over the past decade and the same combination of high risk technology and high risk management are still at work today, "Despite the ecological devastation, the human suffering and disruption and the massive amounts of taxpayers money spent, the collapses of the early 90s did not lead to any kind of public review... The same thinking, same policies, and same people remain largely in charge today."

Change within DFO may be slow, but change in the oceans is happening at a devastating pace. Terry Farnsworth, a fisher from Digby Nova Scotia says his catch is down 75% from last year. He is being forced to move into deeper and deeper water to find any fish at all, "we went from fishing along the shore to being driven to explore areas I never thought I'd have to go... When that's gone, what'll I do next?? That's the last of them out there."

Farnsworth has been fishing for groundfish for over 25 years using a method called handlining. He chose handlining over dragging partly because it has less impact on the marine environment. Farnsworth has watched many of his friends give up handlining because they can no longer make a living with fish densities so low. DFO continues to license large dragger boats, however, which use large nets to catch more fish in a shorter amount of time. "How can they not see that it's irresponsible fishing practices?" Farnsworth asks. "I cannot see how this kind of destruction can be profitable... maybe there's a different way of looking at profitable."

Les Burke, head of the department of economics at DFO, says, "fishing has become far more efficient because there is new technology that can tell us where exactly the fish are." According to Burke, by targeting the fish in certain areas, the overall damage to the ecosystem can be dramatically reduced. Burke says that by mapping the ocean floor, DFO is identifying sensitive areas to be protected and other areas that can be dragged with little negative impact. Although some areas are open to handlining but closed to dragging, the majority of these marine protected areas are closed to all methods of fishing. This approach does not satisfy Butler, "measures such as endangered species legislation or marine protected areas, while they encourage more sustainability in the fishery, are not the tools to fix the fishery and its fundamental problems."

According to Butler, a solution based on protected areas does not acknowledge that some methods of fishing are far more damaging than others. It also fails to encourage small fishers like Terry Farnsworth to continue handlining, when in the end, areas are either completely closed, or completely open, no matter what the gear type.

Butler hopes that the court case this summer will force DFO to address fully and openly the different methods of fishing, and move away from a fisheries management strategy where marine areas are either 'open' or 'closed' and fish stocks are either there, or gone forever, "We are not trying to shut down all dragging, we just want to see fishing done right. They are certain species and habitats that can withstand the impacts, but right now there is no sense and no balance."

Regional News

Sun, 18 May 2003 03:17:48 +0000

A selection of news briefs from the north, east, west, and centre of Canada, but not from the south. Including: OCAP trial, Ernie Eves' Televised Budget, and elections in Manitoba, New Brunswick.

East

Fishing disputes heat up
Fishers in New Brunswick will disobey restrictions on crab fishing this spring. In Newfoundland, displeasure over the closure of the cod fishery, has caused so much controversy that Premier Roger Grimes has talked publicly of renegotiating Newfoundland's place in confederation to gain control of the fishery.

New Brunswick election called
Premier Bernard Lord has dissolved the legislature and set a June 9 date for a provincial election. Lord's Tory party holds significant majority in New Brunswick and prospects for increasing the margin seem good.

Central

Manitoba goes to the polls June 3
Premier Gary Doer seeks to renew his NDP's mandate in a provincial election June 3. Doer is looking for another majority and may even improve on his party's 32 seats. This is the first election under new campaign finance rules.

Eves shunts democracy then gets ready for election
Premier Ernie Eves announced his pre-election budget outside the legislature for the first time in provincial history. Days later his Tory government released their election platform, featuring (surprise), promises of tax cuts and more warring with the province's teachers. The Tories, who promised a balanced budget by next year, have been criticized by two bond rating agencies who claim the provinces books are more than $1-billion from being balanced.

OCAP three trial declared mistrial
The trial of three activists from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty ended in a mistrial when the jury couldn't agree of the definition of "force", or whether a June 15, 2000 incident at the provincial legislature had, in fact, been a riot. The future of charges against John Clarke, Gaetan Héroux, and Stefan Pilipa, is unclear.

Prairies/West

No spring election in Saskatchewan
Unlike some of his fellow Premiers whose governments were elected in 1999, Lorne Calvert announced he will not send his province back to the polls this spring. The NDP is currently in a minority government coalition and has more than twelve months to call an election.

BC NDP blast Liberals for two years of destruction
NDP Leader Joy McPhail released a report this week on the failed promise of the Liberal government. This week marks the two year anniversary of Gordon Campbell's near sweep of the British Columbia legislature. The report marks at least 25 promises the Liberals have broken.

North

Nunavut hosts conference on suicides as rate continues to climb
The coroner of Nunavut says the suicide rate in Canada's youngest territory continues to climb. 107 Nunavut residents have taken their own lives since the territory was formed just four years ago. A conference on the problem opens in Iqualit.