from the Mid North Monitor - April, 2007 Friends Rebuilding Healthy Fish Stocks By Cynthia McQueen Earth Day in Sudbury was celebrated with education, workshops, awareness, food, music, the chance to grow a tree and the success of the Friends of the Spanish River. Sudbury and Algoma-Manitoulin locals learned about the success of the Muskellunge Restoration Project at the gathering Sunday April 22. Espanola's Friends of the Spanish River was represented in fine fashion by Bill McKenna and Bill Blight this weekend. The two promoted the successful restoration of the musky to the Spanish River at Sudbury 's Market Square this Sunday. “Most people take fish out of the river; what we're doing is putting them back,” said McKenna. McKenna explained, the Spanish River was so degraded over time from industry making the habitat hostile to the musky. The fish were also over-fished to the point that a moratorium on catching musky had to be instated for the health of the population. “There was a time when waste would come down the river from industry in Sudbury ,” said McKenna. Peter Best, an Espanola resident remembered, “When I grew up in Espanola in the 50's and 60's it was taken for granted that the river was polluted, devoid of fish and unfit for swimming. That was considered to be the expected price to pay for the community's ‘bread and butter,' i.e., the mill and all the jobs and prosperity it brought.” It was the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment (KVP) who reopened the mill after the depression and greatly contributed to the destruction of the river, according to Best. “If you cut a hole in the ice near the mouth of the river in the winter of 1947, the smell, according to a witness who later testified in Court, was such as would ‘nearly knock you down'.” The water became unfit for drinking, cooking or washing and when it was heated the vapours given off were so offensive that “you could not stay in the house.” By 1950 the Ontario Legislature had created the KVP Act 1950 , which stated that the company was indebted to abate or lessen the pollution of the waters of the Spanish River through its operations. The idea that industry should bear the costs for pollution is one that we take for granted today, however, Best's father Don believes, “ (The KVP Act 1950) was one of the events that eventually led to the creation of the Ontario Water Resources Commission.” According to Don Best, “Awareness of pollution and efforts to control or lessen it started in Ontario .” Quick Fact: The Friends of the Spanish River organization is currently a member of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, an agreement between Canada and the US which ensures that safe water quality and preservation are being practiced on both sides of the border. The Friends of the Spanish River began work in tandem with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Domtar, INCO and other industry to restore the river and its musky population in 1994. McKenna described the process that led the team of volunteers to success almost fifty years after the introduction of one of Canada 's first environmentally conscious acts. “We build the fish from eggs. With the MNR we capture larger fish from MacGregor Bay and Serpent River milk the males and take eggs from the females.” Taking eggs and milk from the larger fish ensured the strength and survival of the population once the fingerlings and yearlings were reintegrated into the wild, noted McKenna. Explaining the recipe for love, McKenna discussed how the milk and eggs are simply mixed with a feather to stimulate fertilization. The fertile eggs then went to Domtar in Espanola where they were monitored in holding tanks until they grew to fry. Then they were shipped to Lyndsay where they grew into fingerlings and yearlings. Once they were ready, volunteers working with the MNR reintroduced the fish into the Spanish River from Massey to the Delta. The idea was that when they were released, they would bond with a spot and return to that place as spawning grounds when they reached sexual maturity. More than ten years after the project began, and $300,000 later, two generations of musky have been identified through cutting edge genetic science. Musky are thriving in the Spanish River once again. “The good news is the program worked. The fish are reproducing naturally. If the River was not stable or there was no food this would not happen. The fact that they're reproducing in healthy numbers is proof positive that it's working.” According to McKenna the Spanish River is currently in good shape because of two things. Over time, the heavy metals that were located in what were known as ‘hot spots' on the river have settled and been sealed forever with sediment. Aside from nature taking its course, industrial polluters have become more socially responsible when it comes to the environment and over time with the creation of Acts like the KVP Act 1950 , companies have become more aware of their practices and their impact on the environment. Environmental social responsibility is one thing Domtar started to take very seriously after the mill accidentally discharged toxic effluent into the Spanish River , killing fish by the thousands in the early 1980s. Now the mill has one of the most stringent ‘zero-emissions' pulp bleaching processes in the world, and the area below the Spanish River Dam is an excellent spot for pickerel fishing. Domtar also built an oxygenator as part of a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) which it placed in the Spanish River at the Webbwood Bridge . The expensive system is equipped to issue a low blast of oxygen into the water if needed. “Thankfully, it's never been used,” said McKenna. Quick Fact: The Canadian Government has not removed the body of water from its list of Areas of Concern. The river was listed with Environment Canada in 1985 as part of a RAP as a result of the historic impacts of industry and on-going mining, milling and smelting activities of INCO Ltd. and Falconbridge Ltd. in the adjacent basin from the Sudbury Basin which drains from the Vermillion into the Spanish. “There is no more degredation,” said McKenna. This is good news for the musky, but there is a long way to go on the road to full recovery for the Spanish River . For more information visit www.friendsofthespanishriver.ca or visit www.mnr.gov.on.ca/mnr/pubs/Esocid_bibliog.pdf or www.on.ec.gc.ca/water/raps/report_2003/Spanish_e.html Cynthia McQueen, BA (Hons.) |