Vancouver aquarium's tropical fishes poisoned

MarinePollutionBulletin Shellfish Toxicity Persists in B.C. Paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) arising from dense blooms of Protogonyaulax sp. during the summer of 1986 (see Mar. Pollut. Bull. 17, 485), continued to persist during the autumn in bivalve shellfish of some parts of British Columbia. As late as the latter part of November, Sechelt Inlet remained closed for the harvesting of shellfish. High levels of PSP (1400 ~tg per 100 g meat) in Agamemnon Channel mussels resulted in a fisheries ban on shellfish harvesting in that channel and in Jervis Inlet, on the lower mainland coast of British Columbia. The maximum allowable level of PSP is 80 ~tg per 100 g of meat. PSP levels in mussels from Sechelt Inlet dropped in one week from 17 000 ~tg per 100 g meat to 1700 ~tg, but were still too high for safe harvesting. Toxins in oysters, on the other hand, dropped to between 45 and 47 ~tg per 100 g of meat from 3700 ~g. The closure affecting Sechelt Inlet went into effect at the end of October when sampling showed a massive red-tide infestation in the area. Red tides were the most severe in British Columbia during 1986 since 1980. M. WALDICHUK B.C. F o r e s t F i r m F i n e d for C h e m i c a l Spill On 16 December 1986, provincial court Judge Dennis Schmidt fined CIP Inc., a forest company, for spilling between 3200 and 10 000 1. of a toxic chemical wood preservative, pentachlorophenates, from CIP's mill operation into Tahsis Inlet on the west coast of Vancouver Island, on 14 January 1986. The spill occurred when a CIP carrier driver drove a load of lumber backward and forward through the dip tank containing the wood preservative. The area has two major salmon spawning grounds, and the charge was laid by a fishery officer under the Fisheries Act. In addition to the fine, the company was ordered to take immediate steps to install pollution safeguards at its Tahsis mill. M. WALDICHUK V a n c o u v e r A q u a r i u m ' s Tropical F i s h e s P o i s o n e d The Vancouver Public Aquarium suffered a malicious act of deliberate destruction or vandalism during the night of 25-26 November 1986, when copper sulphate was dumped in a heavy overdose into the seawater serving the tropical fish display. A $60 000 collection of 725 tropical fishes that had been acquired from various parts of the world over the last two decades was nearly totally destroyed. The motive for the poisoning has not been ascertained. Police are investigating, A 22 kg bag of copper sulphate was emptied into a 250 000 1. (45 000 gal.)tank of seawater. A concentration of 3.5 ppm of dissolved copper was measured by the City Analyst (not all the copper sulphate went into solution). A few damsel fish, archer fish and one stonefish survived after several hours' exposure to the foregoing copper concentration. Normally a concentration of 0.16 ppm of copper sulphate is used as an algicide in the fish exhibit tanks. 204

The generous response of the public with donations to replace the fish has been overwhelming. By midJanuary 1987, about 60% of the display had been replaced through cooperation of aquaria all over the world. M. WALDICHUK Oilspills o n B.C. C o a s t On 4 January 1987, a small oil spill, estimated to be up to 900 1., appeared in Burrard Inlet (Vancouver Harbour). Its origin remains a mystery. Environment Canada's regional environmental emergency coordinator stated that three separate oil spills, believed to be unrelated, in Burrard Inlet on the same day were being investigated. One of the sources of oil was detected at the south end of the Second Narrows bridge and was suspected to originate from a Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) pumping station. But a GVRD spokesman denied that the oil could be coming from the pumping facility. By 15 January, after analyses had been performed on the spilled oil, Environment Canada had concluded that the oil in Burrard Inlet was marine diesel fuel from a ship. There was little hope that the polluter would be found. The oil was too dispersed by the time it was discovered to be recovered by any oil slick-licking devices. There was a fear that up to 1000 water fowl, which are concentrated in the area at this time of year, could succumb from the oil pollution. Members of the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C., however, were confident they could save many of the sea birds affected by the oil. By 15 January, they had treated 128 birds, of which 56 had already been released and 8 died. They estimated that 200 birds had died so far from exposure to the spilled oil. Diesel oil was seeping out slowly from the 65 metre US vessel Transpec carrying 413 tonnes of diesel fuel, which sank after a collision with a Seattle-bound US fish packer on 23 November 1986 near Butedale, 160 km south of Prince Rupert on the northern coast of British Columbia. The ship was hanging precariously from a vertical cliff at a depth of 50 m and could have slid down to the bottom, 500 m below, at any time. This made it particularly hazardous for divers to work on the vessel in order to stop the leak. According to Canadian Coast Guard officials aboard the Coast Guard catamaran Cloo-stung, the diesel fuel slowly bubbled to the surface and formed an oil slick of about 25 m diameter. Currents dispersed the fuel oil, however, before it could cause a serious pollution problem. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans had noted that the oil was not causing any environmental damage when it was observed in mid-December. One of the options considered by the Coast Guard for stopping the leak was to explode the vessel and gather the released oil all at once. A tanker had spilled an estimated 3.7 million 1. of Alaskan North Slope crude oil in the Gulf of Alaska, sometime just prior to 15 January 1987. The oil was dispersed by heavy seas and none of it was expected to reach shore. M. WALDICHUK