50 Years For Cheakamus River (BC) Fish To Recover From 2005 Spill

[hatrack]

Salmon and other fish species in the Cheakamus River will take 50 years or more to recover from a devastating toxic chemical spill last summer, according to reports obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

The government-written reports say more than 500,000 adult and young salmon, steelhead, trout, lamprey and other species died of suffocation from "severe burns" to their gills from a "concentrated pulse" of caustic soda after a CN Rail car derailed and dumped its contents into the river north of Squamish.

Nearly all fish were killed along an 18-kilometre stretch of the Cheakamus, while effects were also noted in the Squamish River downstream of its confluence with the Cheakamus.

"The effects of the caustic soda spill on the fish community in the Cheakamus was immediate, severe in nature and will be persistent for many generations" says one report co-written by provincial and federal fisheries biologists. The authors note the role of salmon as a keystone in the Pacific Northwest ecosystem food web and say it is "possible and probable" that the impact of the spill will also be felt by birds and animals that rely on Cheakamus salmon for food.

EDIT

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=376b8abf-4c42-4f56-be87-bb059f112c26&k=2742