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Island Investigators Probing Cause of Fish Kills in Two PEI Rivers

Posted on: Monday, 23 July 2007, 18:18 CDT

CHARLOTTETOWN (CP) - As thousands of dead fish washed up on the banks of two of Prince Edward Island's most pristine rivers, environmental investigators said Monday they believe pesticide runoff from farmers' fields was the likely culprit.

Officials from the province's Environment Department walked along the banks of the Dunk and Tryon rivers Monday, collecting dead fish in areas that extended over several kilometres.

Gerald MacDougall, the department's manager of fish and wildlife, said he was particularly alarmed by what he saw along the Dunk River in western P.E.I.

"Probably thousands have died in the Dunk River, many of them of significant size," he said, noting the species include many speckled and rainbow trout weighing about two kilograms, along with hundreds of young Atlantic salmon.

The damage represents a serious setback for the Island because the waterway is considered a major sport fishing river, MacDougall said.

"It's quite upsetting when you see these large fish, just dead like that," he said. "The farmers are doing a lot but it only takes one person to ruin it for everybody."

Investigators were still searching for the cause of the latest fish kill, but MacDougall said it is likely another example of a pesticide runoff, despite a series of reforms aimed at curbing use of the chemicals near the Island's waterways.

"They were more than likely poisoned," MacDougall said in an interview. "The likelihood of a pesticide is pretty good here because there's so much farming that goes on in this area."

He said the kill may turn out to be "at least as bad if not worse" than a 2003 kill on the Wilmont River, where about 4,500 trout were killed following a pesticide spill.

A farmer convicted of spilling the pesticides was fined $16,300.

"We're still trying to recover from the losses in that river," said MacDougall. "We're still restocking."

On Sunday, residents found hundreds of fish along the east branch of the Tryon River in the Maple Plains area, about 20 kilometres west of Charlottetown. Investigators said they had recovered about 700 fish by late Monday.

The second incident was reported Monday along a six-kilometre stretch of the Dunk River.

Investigators said the latest fish kill is probably related to the fact that much of the Island was drenched by heavy rain last week.

"Anything that was sprayed on a field on Thursday, more than likely ended up in the river on Friday," said MacDougall.

Todd Dupuis, a spokesman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation in P.E.I., said the incidents show tighter regulations are needed to prevent farm chemicals from flowing into waterways.

"Two fish kills already this season - it's a bit of a blip for sure," he said.

The death of young salmon is particularly worrying, as there are only 25 rivers where the struggling species is still found on the Island.

Even a few hundred deaths is a serious blow, said Dupuis, calling it "the death of a thousand cuts."

Dupuis noted that at one time many fish kills on the Island were caused by the restricted chemical azinphos methyl, also known as Guthion.

However, he said, use of that chemical is now severely restricted.

"We don't know which chemical is responsible yet for these kills," he said.

Dupuis said there are still many fungicides that farmers are allowed to use near streams that "are lethal to fish."

- By Michael Tutton in Halifax

Source: Canadian Press

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