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Marine link between mainland and Vancouver Island
Marine Pollution Bulletin
agreed as an interim measure to study the problem and enforce existing anti-pollution laws. The Honourable John Roberts stated that the signing marked " a very significant step forward" toward a binding treaty, but conceded that its main immediate effect is a U.S. promise to apply antipollution laws already on the books. Of course, recovery of noxious substances from atmospheric emissions so that they do not cause ecological damage in downwind areas is not new in Canada. Emissions of sulphur dioxide fumes from a smelter in Trail, British Columbia, several decades ago caused damage to crops in eastern Washington State. This led to a landmark international court case culminating with the 1941 Trail Smelter Decision. A n arbitral tribunal ordered Canada to pay compensation to the United States for damages caused by fumes from the privately-owned Canadian Smelting company. The tribunal stated in part: " . . . under the principles of international l a w . . , no State has the right to use or permit the use of its territory in such a manner as to cause injury by fumes in or to the territory of another or the properties or persons therein . . . . It is therefore the duty of the government of the Dominion of Canada to see to it that this conduct should be in conformity with the obligation of the Dominion under international law as herein determined." As a result of that decision, the Trail smelter introduced a gas-scrubbing programme with removal of sulphur dioxide from emissions, which led ultimately to production of a fertilizer, ammonion sulphate, as a by-product. There was
remarkable recovery of vegetation thereafter not only at some distance down-wind from Trail but also in the Trail area itself. The impact of the early emissions or of the later reductions in sulphur dioxide, on the lakes and rivers downwind in southeastern British Columbia and in eastern Washington State was never fully investigated. However, it is unlikely that there would have been major changes in pH of the aquatic systems, because waters in these areas are comparatively high in salts and relatively well buffered for freshwater. The 'tall stack policy', that depends on high-level atmospheric dispersion of industrial emissions, seemed like a reasonable cost-effective control mechanism at one time forreductionoflocalatmosphericpollution. However, it did not take into account the hidden cost that eventually emerged, i.e. the damage being done downwind in distant places. This is damage not only to aquatic ecosystems but also to forests, agriculture, human health and even surfaces of buildings and statuary of aesthetic and historic value. It is clear that this is one case where the assimilative capacity of the environment has been exceeded. The remedial practice of liming acidic lakes and streams to restore the pH to near neutrality is not only costly but it is not particularly successful in rehabilitating fish populations. Preventative measures are needed. The noxious substances must be controlled at source, and if a marketable by-product can be produced in the process, so much the better.
Park to Save Sandbar in Fraser River E s t u a l ' y
~ a s Island are the marshland of Duck and Barber islands where waterfowl and young salmon feed. Much of this part of the Fraser River estuary provides nursery habitat for the millions of juvenile salmonids that come down the river each spring. It is expected that preservation of Dens Island as a park will aid in protecting habitat for fish and wildlife. The island property was purchased for $1.4 million from Weldwood of Canada Ltd., with the financial assistance of one-third the cost from the Devonian Foundation, which has also provided $62,000 for the first stage development of the park (total cost of development estimated at $185,000).
The Greater Vancouver Regional District recently acquired a new park on Dens Island in the south arm of the Fraser River, comprising 69 ha of varied terrain, consisting of stands of cottonwood and alder, grassy meadows now growing hay, many hectares of marshland of bullrushes and reeds, and sandy stretches along the Fraser River shore, Dens Island is well known to Vancouver residents as the island punctured by a tunnel under the south arm of the Fraser River that carries the main traffic artery to Washington State and to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal for vehicles destined for Victoria, B.C. The heavy tunnel traffic is relatively inaudible on the island, the noise being muffled by the deep cuts in the earth at the tunnel's entrances. Dens Island is largely undeveloped and lies between the municipalities of Delta (population: 65,000) to the south and Richmond (population: 80,000) to the north. It has about 4 km of riverfront and two sandbars. The island park saves one of the few remaining sandbar riverfronts downstream of New Westminster. Sandbars have been destroyed as roads were built along the dikes constructed many years ago along the riverfront, and property was developed for industry and moorage. Downriver from 274
M. W A L D I C H U K
Marine Link Between Mainland and Vancouver Island The Honourable Dr. Pat McGeer, Minister of the Ministry of Universities, Science and Communications of the Government of British Columbia, has initiated studies on a transportation link between the lower mainland of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. At the present time, transportation is provided by a ferry system. The distance is about 21 km across the Strait of Georgia, with a maximum depth of 300 m along the route of the proposed crossing. Several options are being examined: (1) a floating bridge with sections that can be opened for ships
Volume 1 l / N u m b e r 10/October 1980
..
-
_
_
i _
,
al
i
.
Ii
I r
'
"
i
i=
•
~°°
" G o o d h e a v e n s ] I wouldn't
jump
down
transiting the area; (2) pre-built tunnel, sections of which would be floated into place and sunk (the bottom sedimentary materials are too soft and too deep to permit a tunnel to be bored through); and (3) floating bridge with submerged sections to allow ships to pass. The latter alternative appears to be one that is most practical. It would require careful anchoring to keep all sections in place under sometimes severe winter wave conditions,
there
if I were
you
young
man."
The floating bridge across the Hood Canal of Puget Sound in Washington State is being examined closely for design problems. It crosses aZ5 km wide section of the inlet, and capsized during a violent storm in February 1979. It has not yet been restored. Other floating bridges, such as those across Lake Okanagan in British Columbia and Lake Washington in Washington State, have been more successfnl in endurance. 275
Marine PollutionBulletin Ecological problems with a floating bridge across the Strait of Georgia will have to be examined, such as the effec~ on migrating salmon species, both in their journey toward the sea as juveniles and in their return to their native streams to spawn as adults,
Controve r y O v e r Tailin s Disnosal
P 1) ~ --]l'OrO----
Mille
A proposal to discharge tailings from a molybdenum mine at Kitsault, British Columbia, into Alice Arm at the head of Observatory Inlet on the northern coast of British Columbia has been challenged by the Nishga Native Indians. They claim that the marine food chain will be unfavourably affected, and this in turn will have an adverse effect on fishing carried out traditionally by the Indians in this inlet system. A federal order-in-council was approved in April 1979 setting up special Alice Arm Tailings Deposit Regulations, which would exempt the mine operators from having to abide by existing regulations set up under the Fisheries Act. The existing regulations require that suspended solids in effluent from a mining operation not exceed25 ppm. The mine proposes to discharge tailings (the finely ground rock from molybdenum extraction) through an outfall discharging at 50 m depth in Alice Arm, which has a maximum depth of 380 m. A threshold sill of 30 m depth separates deep water in Alice Arm from that in the main part of Observatory Inlet. Production will be at 12,000 tonnes of ore per day on an ore body that is expected to last 26 years with a total production of 100 million tonnes of tailings. There was an earlier mine operation at the same site, from 1967 tp 1972, with production of molybdenum from 6,000 tonnes of ore dally. The tailings at that time were dumped into Lime Creek, draining into Alice Arm, and ultimately ended up on the bottom of Alice Arm. In the House of Commons on 8 July 1980, when the Honourable Romeo Le Blanc, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, was questioned on this matter, he stated the issue will be reviewed. The Nishga tribal council wants all work on the project to stop until a full inquiry can be held.
Chlorinated -" t l-y a-r o c a r D o n s
ill
L.,~wa~, In order to evaluate the effects of municipal waste waters on populations of mussel, crab and holothurians and on the chlorinated hydrocarbon content of sediments, 300 1. per day of settled sewage were added to an experimental basin 65 m s and 0.6 m deep in the lagoon of Strunjan in the Northern Adriatic. A lagoon of similar size was used as a control. The pesticide and PCB content of the fauna and the sediments from the lagoons and from offshore waters within 14 nautical miles of the coast were determined, In the case of mussels and crabs only the edible parts were used for analysis after homogenization. Because this technique is difficult with holothurians, cold acid extraction of the organochlorine compounds was used. Sediments were dried, homogenized" and extracted. All extracts were concentrated to dryness and solvent extracted, treating part of the extract with alkaline ethanol as a preliminary step in 276
the determination of aldrin, DDT and Dieldrin, using chromatographic methods. The results showed that the sediments in the polluted basin contained about three times the concentration of DDT and its derivatives, and PCBs, as the unpolluted basin. This higher concentration was due to the sewage because all the other samples, including those taken in the sea areas, showed much lower values. In these samples from the sea area an increase in chlorinated hydrocarbon content was detected nearer the shore. The influence of sediment composition on the fauna examined was to cause a two or threefold increase in chlorinated hydrocarbon content in the holothurians which are deposit feeders and mussels which are filter feeders but this was not the case with crab, which is a predator and scavenger. The results of sediment analysis showed differences in DDT and PCB concentration which could be explained by the proximity of the sampling areas to sources of pollution, as well as to the size of the sediment particle; since the chlorinated hydrocarbons are held by the surface physical property of adsorption by the particles and the surface of a given weight of sediment increases as the particles become smaller, fine particles were formed to contain a greater proportion of hydrocarbon than the larger grains. These results are reported by I. Salihoglu (Turkey), J Faganeli and J. Stirn (Yugoslavia) in Rev. Int. Oc~anogr. M~d.Vol. 58, 1980.
Salvors ncourageu to Combat OilPollution A new agreement which alters the standard Lloyds rules governing salvage of stricken vessels at sea is seen by the oil tanker industry as a significant step forward in dealing with the threat of pollution. The changes to Lloyds standard salvage agreement, known as Lloyd's Open Form (LOP) have modified the strict 'no cure no pay' stipulations previously in effect which, it was felt, gave insufficient economic incentive to salvors to use their best efforts to avoid pollution in the course of saving a laden tanker in trouble. The outcome of two year's of talks by a Lloyd's working party representing salvors, shipowners, oil companies and underwriters is a new LOF that guarantees payment of salvors costs - a 'no cure, some pay' clause - if government authorities require the vessel to be sunk to prevent pollution. Previously the salvor was rewarded on the basis of the value of the ship, cargo and freight saved, but not for any actions in preventing pollution and potential pollution liability. Four out of every five salvage operations are conducted under LOF and another clause added to the modified agreement covers the 'Flying Dutchman syndrome' where ports refuse entry to a leaking tanker, as illustrated in 1979 when the damaged tanker Andros Patria remained under tow at sea for 50 days unable to find an Atlantic port willing to accept her until all her oil was removed from the vessel. To encourage salvors to assist a vessel potentially likely to be similarly treated the new clause allows salvors to end their services if they and the vessel owners disagree over a safe place to take the vessel.
agreed as an interim measure to study the problem and enforce existing anti-pollution laws. The Honourable John Roberts stated that the signing marked " a very significant step forward" toward a binding treaty, but conceded that its main immediate effect is a U.S. promise to apply antipollution laws already on the books. Of course, recovery of noxious substances from atmospheric emissions so that they do not cause ecological damage in downwind areas is not new in Canada. Emissions of sulphur dioxide fumes from a smelter in Trail, British Columbia, several decades ago caused damage to crops in eastern Washington State. This led to a landmark international court case culminating with the 1941 Trail Smelter Decision. A n arbitral tribunal ordered Canada to pay compensation to the United States for damages caused by fumes from the privately-owned Canadian Smelting company. The tribunal stated in part: " . . . under the principles of international l a w . . , no State has the right to use or permit the use of its territory in such a manner as to cause injury by fumes in or to the territory of another or the properties or persons therein . . . . It is therefore the duty of the government of the Dominion of Canada to see to it that this conduct should be in conformity with the obligation of the Dominion under international law as herein determined." As a result of that decision, the Trail smelter introduced a gas-scrubbing programme with removal of sulphur dioxide from emissions, which led ultimately to production of a fertilizer, ammonion sulphate, as a by-product. There was
remarkable recovery of vegetation thereafter not only at some distance down-wind from Trail but also in the Trail area itself. The impact of the early emissions or of the later reductions in sulphur dioxide, on the lakes and rivers downwind in southeastern British Columbia and in eastern Washington State was never fully investigated. However, it is unlikely that there would have been major changes in pH of the aquatic systems, because waters in these areas are comparatively high in salts and relatively well buffered for freshwater. The 'tall stack policy', that depends on high-level atmospheric dispersion of industrial emissions, seemed like a reasonable cost-effective control mechanism at one time forreductionoflocalatmosphericpollution. However, it did not take into account the hidden cost that eventually emerged, i.e. the damage being done downwind in distant places. This is damage not only to aquatic ecosystems but also to forests, agriculture, human health and even surfaces of buildings and statuary of aesthetic and historic value. It is clear that this is one case where the assimilative capacity of the environment has been exceeded. The remedial practice of liming acidic lakes and streams to restore the pH to near neutrality is not only costly but it is not particularly successful in rehabilitating fish populations. Preventative measures are needed. The noxious substances must be controlled at source, and if a marketable by-product can be produced in the process, so much the better.
Park to Save Sandbar in Fraser River E s t u a l ' y
~ a s Island are the marshland of Duck and Barber islands where waterfowl and young salmon feed. Much of this part of the Fraser River estuary provides nursery habitat for the millions of juvenile salmonids that come down the river each spring. It is expected that preservation of Dens Island as a park will aid in protecting habitat for fish and wildlife. The island property was purchased for $1.4 million from Weldwood of Canada Ltd., with the financial assistance of one-third the cost from the Devonian Foundation, which has also provided $62,000 for the first stage development of the park (total cost of development estimated at $185,000).
The Greater Vancouver Regional District recently acquired a new park on Dens Island in the south arm of the Fraser River, comprising 69 ha of varied terrain, consisting of stands of cottonwood and alder, grassy meadows now growing hay, many hectares of marshland of bullrushes and reeds, and sandy stretches along the Fraser River shore, Dens Island is well known to Vancouver residents as the island punctured by a tunnel under the south arm of the Fraser River that carries the main traffic artery to Washington State and to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal for vehicles destined for Victoria, B.C. The heavy tunnel traffic is relatively inaudible on the island, the noise being muffled by the deep cuts in the earth at the tunnel's entrances. Dens Island is largely undeveloped and lies between the municipalities of Delta (population: 65,000) to the south and Richmond (population: 80,000) to the north. It has about 4 km of riverfront and two sandbars. The island park saves one of the few remaining sandbar riverfronts downstream of New Westminster. Sandbars have been destroyed as roads were built along the dikes constructed many years ago along the riverfront, and property was developed for industry and moorage. Downriver from 274
M. W A L D I C H U K
Marine Link Between Mainland and Vancouver Island The Honourable Dr. Pat McGeer, Minister of the Ministry of Universities, Science and Communications of the Government of British Columbia, has initiated studies on a transportation link between the lower mainland of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. At the present time, transportation is provided by a ferry system. The distance is about 21 km across the Strait of Georgia, with a maximum depth of 300 m along the route of the proposed crossing. Several options are being examined: (1) a floating bridge with sections that can be opened for ships
Volume 1 l / N u m b e r 10/October 1980
..
-
_
_
i _
,
al
i
.
Ii
I r
'
"
i
i=
•
~°°
" G o o d h e a v e n s ] I wouldn't
jump
down
transiting the area; (2) pre-built tunnel, sections of which would be floated into place and sunk (the bottom sedimentary materials are too soft and too deep to permit a tunnel to be bored through); and (3) floating bridge with submerged sections to allow ships to pass. The latter alternative appears to be one that is most practical. It would require careful anchoring to keep all sections in place under sometimes severe winter wave conditions,
there
if I were
you
young
man."
The floating bridge across the Hood Canal of Puget Sound in Washington State is being examined closely for design problems. It crosses aZ5 km wide section of the inlet, and capsized during a violent storm in February 1979. It has not yet been restored. Other floating bridges, such as those across Lake Okanagan in British Columbia and Lake Washington in Washington State, have been more successfnl in endurance. 275
Marine PollutionBulletin Ecological problems with a floating bridge across the Strait of Georgia will have to be examined, such as the effec~ on migrating salmon species, both in their journey toward the sea as juveniles and in their return to their native streams to spawn as adults,
Controve r y O v e r Tailin s Disnosal
P 1) ~ --]l'OrO----
Mille
A proposal to discharge tailings from a molybdenum mine at Kitsault, British Columbia, into Alice Arm at the head of Observatory Inlet on the northern coast of British Columbia has been challenged by the Nishga Native Indians. They claim that the marine food chain will be unfavourably affected, and this in turn will have an adverse effect on fishing carried out traditionally by the Indians in this inlet system. A federal order-in-council was approved in April 1979 setting up special Alice Arm Tailings Deposit Regulations, which would exempt the mine operators from having to abide by existing regulations set up under the Fisheries Act. The existing regulations require that suspended solids in effluent from a mining operation not exceed25 ppm. The mine proposes to discharge tailings (the finely ground rock from molybdenum extraction) through an outfall discharging at 50 m depth in Alice Arm, which has a maximum depth of 380 m. A threshold sill of 30 m depth separates deep water in Alice Arm from that in the main part of Observatory Inlet. Production will be at 12,000 tonnes of ore per day on an ore body that is expected to last 26 years with a total production of 100 million tonnes of tailings. There was an earlier mine operation at the same site, from 1967 tp 1972, with production of molybdenum from 6,000 tonnes of ore dally. The tailings at that time were dumped into Lime Creek, draining into Alice Arm, and ultimately ended up on the bottom of Alice Arm. In the House of Commons on 8 July 1980, when the Honourable Romeo Le Blanc, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, was questioned on this matter, he stated the issue will be reviewed. The Nishga tribal council wants all work on the project to stop until a full inquiry can be held.
Chlorinated -" t l-y a-r o c a r D o n s
ill
L.,~wa~, In order to evaluate the effects of municipal waste waters on populations of mussel, crab and holothurians and on the chlorinated hydrocarbon content of sediments, 300 1. per day of settled sewage were added to an experimental basin 65 m s and 0.6 m deep in the lagoon of Strunjan in the Northern Adriatic. A lagoon of similar size was used as a control. The pesticide and PCB content of the fauna and the sediments from the lagoons and from offshore waters within 14 nautical miles of the coast were determined, In the case of mussels and crabs only the edible parts were used for analysis after homogenization. Because this technique is difficult with holothurians, cold acid extraction of the organochlorine compounds was used. Sediments were dried, homogenized" and extracted. All extracts were concentrated to dryness and solvent extracted, treating part of the extract with alkaline ethanol as a preliminary step in 276
the determination of aldrin, DDT and Dieldrin, using chromatographic methods. The results showed that the sediments in the polluted basin contained about three times the concentration of DDT and its derivatives, and PCBs, as the unpolluted basin. This higher concentration was due to the sewage because all the other samples, including those taken in the sea areas, showed much lower values. In these samples from the sea area an increase in chlorinated hydrocarbon content was detected nearer the shore. The influence of sediment composition on the fauna examined was to cause a two or threefold increase in chlorinated hydrocarbon content in the holothurians which are deposit feeders and mussels which are filter feeders but this was not the case with crab, which is a predator and scavenger. The results of sediment analysis showed differences in DDT and PCB concentration which could be explained by the proximity of the sampling areas to sources of pollution, as well as to the size of the sediment particle; since the chlorinated hydrocarbons are held by the surface physical property of adsorption by the particles and the surface of a given weight of sediment increases as the particles become smaller, fine particles were formed to contain a greater proportion of hydrocarbon than the larger grains. These results are reported by I. Salihoglu (Turkey), J Faganeli and J. Stirn (Yugoslavia) in Rev. Int. Oc~anogr. M~d.Vol. 58, 1980.
Salvors ncourageu to Combat OilPollution A new agreement which alters the standard Lloyds rules governing salvage of stricken vessels at sea is seen by the oil tanker industry as a significant step forward in dealing with the threat of pollution. The changes to Lloyds standard salvage agreement, known as Lloyd's Open Form (LOP) have modified the strict 'no cure no pay' stipulations previously in effect which, it was felt, gave insufficient economic incentive to salvors to use their best efforts to avoid pollution in the course of saving a laden tanker in trouble. The outcome of two year's of talks by a Lloyd's working party representing salvors, shipowners, oil companies and underwriters is a new LOF that guarantees payment of salvors costs - a 'no cure, some pay' clause - if government authorities require the vessel to be sunk to prevent pollution. Previously the salvor was rewarded on the basis of the value of the ship, cargo and freight saved, but not for any actions in preventing pollution and potential pollution liability. Four out of every five salvage operations are conducted under LOF and another clause added to the modified agreement covers the 'Flying Dutchman syndrome' where ports refuse entry to a leaking tanker, as illustrated in 1979 when the damaged tanker Andros Patria remained under tow at sea for 50 days unable to find an Atlantic port willing to accept her until all her oil was removed from the vessel. To encourage salvors to assist a vessel potentially likely to be similarly treated the new clause allows salvors to end their services if they and the vessel owners disagree over a safe place to take the vessel.