Spiel

Soil cleanup allows for development of former shipyard in Collingwood, Ontario PAT BRENNAN / dcnonl.com COLLINGWOOD, Ont. It was one of Ontario’s most spectacular shows. Thousands of spectators would flock to the Collingwood harbour to watch a 10,000-ton lake freighter slide off a concrete dock, plunge into the water and send a two-storey-high tsunami racing across the bay. It happened many times at this Georgian Bay port during the 103 years it was one of Canada’s busiest shipbuilding centres. Collingwood had one of the few shipyards in North America to employ the dramatic side-launch procedure to launch its ships. The shipyard closed down in 1986, but hundreds of spectators will again gather at the The Shipyards to watch spectacular shows. Much of the industrial land of the original shipyards has been bulldozed and sifted and piled and groomed to create a large amphitheatre. It’s one of several of Collingwood’s new waterfront recreation and entertainment features where the shipyards once sat as it evolves into The Shipyards, an exiting new waterfront village. Converting the 40-acre industrial site into an up-scale new home community is being touted as one of the most successful rehabilitation projects on the Great Lakes. The Shipyards sits at the northern terminus of Highway 10 where it meets the waters of Georgian Bay. Its creation is spearheaded by Frank Giannone, president of Fram Building Group. Giannone says in many ways The Shipyards is a twin to Port Credit Village, the award-winning new community with 700 homes that Fram and its partner Slokker Canada, created 139 kilometres down Highway 10, where it starts on the shores of Lake Ontario. That’s why the highway is also known as Hurontario Street. In Port Credit the developers rehabilitated the 26-acre brownfield site of the St. Lawrence Starch Company into a waterfront village and won design and urban renewal awards from the Washington-based Urban Land Institute. Giannone says the cleanup success of the Port Credit site was a major factor in persuading Collingwood the same thing could be done with their shipyards. He hopes to win similar awards with the Collingwood project, which he says was an even bigger ecological challenge. Slokker is a large development and construction company headquartered in Amsterdam, Holland with extensive North American land holdings and construction projects. It is a partner with Fram on both the Collingwood and Port Credit sites. The ship-building facility was owned by former Prime Minister Paul Martin and his Canada Steamships Lines. As well as large lake freighters, the Collingwood yard built 27 corvettes and minesweepers for the Canadian Navy during the Second World War. The last large vessel built in Collingwood was the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir Wilfred Laurier, now based in Victoria B.C. When the shipyards closed in 1986 nearly 1,200 jobs were lost. It was the principal employer in town. CSL shifted its shipbuilding and repair operations to the Port Weller fry docks on the Welland Canal in St. Catharines, Ont. in a joint venture with Upper Lakes Shipping. The buildings on the Collingwood shipyards were knocked down and for 20 years the site sat like an ugly moonscape separating the town from its downtown waterfront. The cleanup of the former shipyard was a joint venture with CSL, Fram and Slokker and directed by Terraprobe Ltd., a Brampton-based environmental engineering firm. “We had to move nearly 14,000 truck loads of contaminated soil, but with the design of the project we were able to keep most of it on site. If we had to truck that soil off site somewhere we could never afford to develop the site,” said Giannone. It took more than four years to clean up the site before home construction could start. Fred Serrafero, VP of development at Fram, said 130,000 metric tones of contaminated soil were groomed into a seven-acre berm standing 12 metres high on the west side of the property. The berm was then covered with more than a metre of clean fill. It will serve as a toboggan hill in winter and a perch year round for views out over Georgian Bay. Twenty test wells were drilled in and around the new park to measure water quality. No toxic leakage was detected, so development proceeded. The site had been created in the 1800s by dumping coal ash and cinders into Georgian Bay, plus dredging sand up from the bottom of the bay. Serrafero said much of that material was approved by Ontario Ministry of Environment to be retained, treated and covered on site. He said test wells will be monitored twice a year for five years. More than 18,000 cubic metres of wood and 4,000 cubic metres of steel were processed locally, but off the site. Another 50,000 tons of crushed concrete and stone was recycled on site and used to create small islands just off the edge of the park. A fish biologist is creating a fish habitat around the islands. Georgian Aggregates and Construction, a division of Walker Industries Company, did the site clearing, recycling and excavations. Fram and Slokker plan to build 720 low- and mid-rise condominium residences at the site, many of them above retail shops, service boutiques and restaurants. Residents have moved into the first phase. Ralph Giannone, Frank Giannone’s brother is the principal architect for the home designs at The Shipyards. Fram is an acronym using the first letter in the names of John Giannone’s four children — Frank, Ralph, Antionetta and Mariana. John Giannone immigrated to Canada from southern Italy in 1958, started one of Toronto’s largest masonry companies and created Fram in 1981.

Black Creek Spawning Survey www.creditvalleycons.com Help conduct a survey of trout spawning areas. Beginners will be matched with experts to identify Brown trout redds (nests) as part of a long term monitoring program. Location: Meet at Acton Community Centre on Highway 7 Time: October 24, 9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. Cost: Free Contact: Sherwin Watson-Leung of Credit Valley Conservation at (905) 670-1615 ext. 447

Warning buoys and booms to be removed from GRCA dams www.grandriver.ca Warning buoys and booms upstream of GRCA dams will be removed the week of Oct. 19 to prepare for winter. They will be put back in place in May 2010 after the spring runoff. -Monday, Oct. 19. - New Dundee Dam, Wellesley Dam and Breslau Dam -Wednesday, Oct. 21 - Drimmie Dam (Elora), Bissell Dam (Elora), Everton Dam and Rockwood Dam -Thursday, Oct. 22 - Dunnville Dam and Dunnville Weirs 2, 3 and 4 -Friday, Oct. 23 - Caledonia Dam and Wilkes Dam (Brantford) -Monday, Oct 26. - Parkhill Dam (Cambridge) and New Hamburg Dam -Tuesday, Oct. 27. - Conestogo Dam and Woolwich Dam -Wednesday, Oct. 28 - Shand Dam -Thursday, Oct. 29 - Guelph Dam The schedule is subject to change depending on weather conditions. The buoys and booms are installed each May to provide warning to boaters about the danger of approaching these dams. Boaters should exercise extra caution around the dams after the buoys and booms are removed.

They sure are purdy!

Cobourg Creek restoration a cooperative success story Stage set for return of Atlantic salmon to local creek Oct 09, 2009 PEG MCCARTHY / NORTHUMBERLAND NEWS COBOURG -- Thanks, in part, to local efforts to clean up and enhance the quality of water in Cobourg Creek, Atlantic salmon may soon return to spawn in the creek and its tributaries. Terry Quinney, fish and wildlife services provincial manager with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH), provided Cobourg councillors with an update on the Lake Ontario Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program, at the Oct. 5 committee of the whole meeting. The program, with over 30 public and private partners, targets three water courses; the Cobourg Creek, Duffins Creek (Durham Region), the Credit River (Toronto). Mr. Quinney told council that the town, along with the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority and with help from community volunteers, has done a wonderful job at enhancing the water quality in the creek. “Atlantic salmon are finicky creatures,” he said. “Hopefully we will soon see the return of the salmon to spawn in Cobourg Creek and in the longer term, the return of recreational and commercial fishing for Atlantic salmon in the area.” Atlantic salmon have a 12,000 year history in Ontario, he explained. Lake Ontario was once home to the Atlantic salmon, however, by 1896, the species was wiped out due to dam building, farming and development on its spawning streams, and over-fishing in both the streams and the lake. Atlantic salmon was one of the first species in Canada to be eliminated through human activities. The program features a four-pronged restoration strategy over a 15-to 20-year time frame: fish production and stocking; habitat restoration and water quality enhancement; research and monitoring; and education and outreach, said Mr. Quinney. Now entering the five-year mark, the program has stocked 1.6 million fish within the three targeted tributaries. On the local front, students at Cobourg District Collegiate Institutes East and West, and other area classrooms, have worked hand-in-hand with the initiative, hosting hatching aquariums and successfully raising eggs to the fry stage before releasing them into the local creek. The goal of the program is to get the hatchlings to return to the creek to spawn. This year, the program saw 10 local habitat restorations (planting trees along the stream), a stream clean-up day, one fencing/crossing project, plus 17,000 yearling salmon stocked in April, 112,000 fry stocked in May, and with a planned stocking of 60,000 fall fingerlings over the next three weeks, he said. Chris Robinson, Lake Ontario Atlantic aalmon restoration program coordinator, said there is someone from OFAH in the Cobourg stream eight months of the year, whether it be staff members, graduate students, summer students or technicians. Currently, a crew of three from the Cobourg Creek Adult Assessment Team spends its days at the Cobourg Creek Golf Course, at Ontario and Elgin streets, in the pond just below the old dam at the ninth hole, said Mr. Robinson. The crew on the lookout for Atlantic salmon and when they spot one, they will gently give the fish a lift over the dam. Hopefully, the fish will spawn and continue the life cycle necessary to ensure the former locally extinct fish will once again populate Lake Ontario and its tributaries. “This dam has probably been here over 200 years and it’s too high for Atlantic salmon to get over,” he said. “In the longer term, it’s hoped to build a way around the dam that the fish can navigate but for now, they need a lift.” According to the OFAH, Atlantic salmon live in oceans or freshwater lakes and migrate up river in fall to spawn. The egg incubate in gravel nests over winter and hatch in early spring, The young salmon stay in the streams one to three years, before migrating to open water, where they spend at least a year maturing into adults. Some type of internal homing device gives the adult salmon the ability to return to its hatching ground year after year to spawn the next generation. For more information about the program, visit www.bringbackthesalmon.ca. Sidebar: Atlantic salmon - Records indicate Atlantic salmon as heavy as 45 pounds were once caught in Lake Ontario. - Historically, 40 Lake Ontario tributaries supported strong Atlantic salmon runs. - Atlantic salmon were once so abundant, early settlers would harvest them by the barrel. - In the 1860s, Samuel Wilmot built the first government-sponsored fish hatchery on Wilmot Creek (in neigbouring Newcastle) as an attempt in reverse the decline of the Atlantic salmon population. - Freshwater Atlantic salmon exist in Quebec, Newfoundland, Michigan, Vermont and Maine.

Bighead carp a big-time threat to Great Lakes ecosystem Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 JOSH WINGROVE / Globe and Mail Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources officers monitor the trade in bigheads, which may not be kept and sold alive On a bed of ice cubes, only a few scraps remain. Half a dozen tails ($2.79 a pound) and two huge heads ($1.99 a pound), under a sign written in English and Chinese: bighead, a type of carp. Here at Hua Sheng Supermarket, and at others along Spadina Avenue, the fish are a moderately popular choice among shoppers, most of them Chinese. "I'd say it's good," shrugs Hu Wen Jie, one of the salesmen, saying they sell about 100 pounds of the carp each week. They used to sell more. "Before, we'd sell it swimming." He means the carp were sold alive, a practice now illegal in Ontario. The province is going after the fish, widely considered the worst nightmare of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Bighead carp grow, multiply, and move quickly, beating other fish to food. They can grow to be a metre long and 45 kilograms in weight - the heads in Hua Sheng are the size of a road yield sign. U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Services/AP A U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Services officer holds a bighead carp captured in the Illinois River. Since the U.S. imported the fish from Asia to clear algae out of ponds, bighead have expanded out of control. They've moved through the Mississippi River system, overtaking it and other waterways and leaving little in their wake. U.S. officials are trying electric fences and poison to keep them from spreading to the Great Lakes. (There's even a U.S. national action plan; It's 265 pages long.) Ontario, too, is on the offensive against the fish, also called Asian carp. In 2004, the province banned the sale of live bighead, punishable by fines for any store owner found guilty. Dead ones may still be sold. The fines for selling the live fish range from $3,500 to $6,500 for retailers found with a few fish, and upwards of $10,000 for a convicted wholesaler, precedent suggests. Eight people have been convicted so far. The most recent came last week, when Fu Yao Supermarket, located on Gerrard Street East was fined $4,500 after Ministry of Natural Resources investigators found a pair of live bighead in the store late last year. "The harm associated with the existence of these fish alive in the Great Lakes region is extraordinary," Crown prosecutor Tania Monteiro told the court. With that, the judge started nodding. He explained he was a sportsman and had seen tapes of the fish in United States rivers. Stirred by the sound of passing engines, the bighead jump. They've been known to break the nose of a passing boater. "You're talking to the converted here," the judge said. Roger Gosbee, Fu Yao Supermarket's lawyer, said it was an honest mistake - the manager had gone on lunch when the MNR investigators showed up. Staff started unpacking 98 pounds of dead bighead, but found two live ones in the shipment. They simply tossed them in the aquarium, the lawyer later explained in an interview. It was that mistake that cost the store $4,500. "My client takes this matter seriously. It was a mistake by an employee," Mr. Gosbee told the court. The ministry says the province's eight convictions have resulted in $112,000 in fines. Officers go door to door at retailers and wholesalers across the province looking for violations. The problem is unique in Toronto, where demand for the product, dead or alive, clashes with efforts to keep it out of the waterways. It has made ministry enforcement officers semi-regular guests in Chinatowns. "The demand for a fresh product is what creates non-compliance 'hot-spots,' " ministry spokesman Matthew Orok said in an e-mail. "If a market can demonstrate that their product is fresher than the competition then they can move more of this product. The easiest way to demonstrate 'freshness' with regards to fish is to have them alive in the store." The challenge is getting the word out, particularly in the Chinese community. Along Spadina, there are whispers of where live bighead may still be available. Scarborough, one person says, while another says to try the United States. "For a few years now, no one has been allowed to sell it," says Chen Shi Young, Mr. Hu's boss and the Hua Sheng manager on duty one recent night. Told of the fine handed to Fu Yao, his competitor, he is surprised - though his own employee had earlier confided that Hua Sheng had, too, been fined under the law years earlier. "They [Fu Yao] were not careful ... When the fish comes, it has to be dead," said Mr. Chen, "As long as they're not swimming in an aquarium, you're okay." BIGHEAD CARP 101 The fish: Bighead carp The cost: $1.99 to $3.49 per pound The source: Legally sold bighead is imported from the southern United States. It's illegal to have a live bighead carp in Ontario. The guilty: There have been eight convictions since a 2004 law banned the possession and sale of the fish. The fines total $112,000. The enforcement: Ministry of Natural Resources officers patrol markets and wholesalers across the province. They're looking for bighead; grass, another carp; snakeheads; round and tubenose gobies; ruffe; silver carp and black carp. All are invasive species. The targets: "Supermarkets, wholesale facilities, restaurants and even the pet trade (aquarium stores)," spokesman Matthew Orok said in an e-mail. The threat: If introduced to Ontario waterways, the result could be catastrophic. The fish overtake most ecosystems they live in, beating other fish to food and reproducing quickly. "The reason for this ban is due to the ecological damage these species are capable of with regards to displacement of native species, and to stop the spread of these invasive species into our aquatic environments," Mr. Orok said.

And here I thought with a name like Slowpoke the fish would have been belly up by the time it was boatside.

Good morning Mike (and everyone else). I've been up since 3am, couldn't sleep knowing my buddy is off to the Saugeen without me.....

Definitely a heavy infestation of Black Grub. Mmmmmm, yummy!

You make it hard for me to *grin* while responding Garry. You go on and have yourself a safe trip and great time down there whilst we all freeze.

Good morning Lew, nice to have you back.

Good on you GBW. Grandparents are definitely special and I've been deliquent in visiting mine of late. Guess I better get in gear and go put a smile on their faces.

LMAO....Touche!

"Anyone else finding it hard to be a hockey fan?" If'n I ain't playing it I have zero interest in it.

Good God Joey, pay attention! Paul is about half an ass width away from breaking your new rod (that's why he's grinning).

Looks like you had a great weekend Dan. Do you think you could e-mail me this picture (full res) when you get a chance.

Students study 'lake vampires,' invasive sea lamprey October 08, 2009 Kym Reinstadler / www.mlive.com GRAND RAPIDS -- It attaches itself with a suction-cup like mouth that rasps away tissue with rows of sharp teeth and a probing tongue. Its oral secretions prevent its victim's blood from clotting, so most die quickly from blood loss. The rest succumb later, from infection. Sounds like a Halloween tale, but it's true. The real fright is that its happening in the Great Lakes. Representatives of Shedd Aquarium were in Grand Rapids on Wednesday with an aquarium of eel-like sea lamprey pulled out of northern Lake Huron by a fisherman's net. The creature's nickname is "lake vampire." "It was slimy and spongy and ugly," said Natasha Rivera, who was among Coit Creative Arts Academy students who followed the example of fourth-grade teacher Tim Mekkes and let a lamprey attach to their arm during a presentation on invasive species. The lamprey teeth feel like pinpricks and breaking its suction is only slightly uncomfortable, Mekkes assured students. It's only that easy because the lamprey don't prefer people, said James De. Clark, a senior aquarist. Lamprey are parasites that feast on other fish, each devouring about 40 pounds a year. And this is how the lamprey decimated indigenous fish populations of the Great Lakes in the 1930s and 1940s and virtually kills Michigan's commercial fishing industry, Clark said. The lamprey also feeds on certain predator species, allowed another invasive species, the alewife, to explode, threatening native fish populations. Control measures that began in 1958 have brought the lamprey problem about 90 percent under control, said Marc Gaden, communications director of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a joint U.S.-Canada body that administers control measures. Lamprey aren't ghastly in their native environment, northern coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, Clark said. Able to live in both salt and freshwater, lamprey are believed to have entered the Great Lakes as canals were built linking the ocean with the Great Lakes. Rinsing hulls before launching boats in another body of water, not dumping live bait in water, and never discharging pet fish into lakes and streams are things kids can do to prevent the spread of invasive

Studies of fish sharing male and female characteristics raise concerns about Great Lakes contaminants Oct. 9, 2009 Elisabeth Pernicone / Great Lakes Echo Fish with characteristics of both genders are more prevalent than previously thought in U.S. rivers, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study. While this study did not analyze fish in the Great Lakes, it may raise new concerns as to whether previously noted hermaphrodite fish in this region are becoming more prevalent as well. “Until we take current sampling it is hard to know,” said Chris Metcalf, director of the Institute for Watershed Science at Trent University in Ontario. “However, all studies are symptomatic of more estrogens being discharged into streams.” Fish with reproductive characteristics of both sexes are known as intersex, a condition linked to exposure to estrogenic compounds. Such compounds can disrupt the endocrine system that regulates growth, metabolism, and reproductive processes. These compounds are commonly found in pharmaceuticals and personal care products. The study appeared in the journal Aquatic Toxicology. It comes as the International Joint Commission raises concerns about emerging contaminants in the Great Lakes. “Fish are incredibly plastic when it comes to sex, and they are very responsive to environmental estrogens and androgens,” said Cheryl Murphy, assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. In this study, fish collected from eight out of nine river basins, from 1994 to 2004, were found to have both sex characteristics. Ninety-seven out of 3,110 were found to have characteristics of both genders. Ninety-six of these were males that exhibited female characteristics. Jo Ellen Hinck, lead author of this study, said a lot of compounds of concern are estrogenic. “These compounds can enter the fish and increase estrogen levels in female fish,” she said “However, when males get an extra boost of estrogen it can have more of an apparent effect.” Studies published in both 2004 and 2008 have confirmed the presence of intersex white perch in the lower Great Lakes, specifically Lake Ontario. Intersex white perch were found in waterways close to discharge pipes from sewage treatment plants. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2004, found 83 percent of white perch were intersex at a location in the lower Great Lakes. Metcalfe, who is also a professor and researcher at Trent University, was one of several researchers involved in this study. He said that white perch may have been more susceptible to this condition because when they are younger they are relatively sedentary, which would be problematic if they were close to a sewage discharge. Researchers in the 2004 study concluded that intersex changes most likely occurred from exposures to estrogenic compounds and other pollutants. Fish experiencing both reproductive features were more prevalent in areas with high levels of water contamination, the study reported. While more research must be conducted to determine whether human consumption of intersex fish can produce harmful effects, there is information that suggests that intake of certain chemicals in fish can cause health ramifications, said Dr. George Abela, cardiologist at the Michigan State University Clinical Center. “If the contaminant is persistent then humans that eat the fish can accumulate that contaminant in their body,” Murphy said. “Because the variety of hormones and chemical messengers are remarkably conserved across the animal kingdom, contaminants that cause intersex in fish can also potentially cause some type of endocrine disruption in humans,” she said. Metcalf said that natural estrogens, which can be found in birth control, may not be of great concern. However, chemicals such as bisphenol A, which are used to make plastics, can mimic estrogens and can cause problems in humans. Abela said that consuming fish with contaminants does not have a significant impact on the heart, but can have damaging effects on the human brain and gastrointestinal lining. The health effects that this condition has on fish itself are still unknown. However, Hinck said that some studies have hypothesized that it may affect the integrity of male sperm. In the recent study on U.S. rivers, which included the Mississippi River and Yukon River Basins, the intersex condition was observed in catfish, carp, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass, but was most prevalent in smallmouth bass. Hinck said that her study could not conclude that estrogenic compounds or pollutants were directly linked with intersex occurrences. This could be a likely cause given the results of other research studies. However, further lab tests and sampling must occur. She said that a variety of factors could have led to these occurrences in her study, such as water pH, steroids, pollutants and water temperature. “[This study] will hopefully highlight that we don’t know what this condition means for individual fish and the whole fish community,” Hinck said. Murphy, who studies the effects of endocrine disruptors in fish, said more information needs to be known before deciding what actions need to be implemented as a result of these findings. “To combat the problem, you first have to determine what is inducing intersex and the source of the stressor,” she said. “If pharmaceuticals from sewage are inducing intersex, then the sewage would have to be treated to specifically remove the endocrine active compounds before it is released. If it is PCBs, the sediment containing PCBs would have to be dredged.” PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were once used for many different purposes ranging from flame retardants to pesticides. Along with mercury and other contaminants, PCBs continue to be of high concern in all of the five Great Lakes.

I like !

Thanks for the info Norm, I'll be sure to get in touch with them.

Lakes see gains, setbacks Toxic mix changing, scientists say October 8th, 2009 Frances Willick / The Windsor Star There are goose droppings on the beaches, mercury in the fish and pharmaceutical chemicals in the water, but the prognosis for the health of the Great Lakes isn’t necessarily bad, some scientists are saying. Experts who gathered in Windsor Wednesday for the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement 2009 Biennial Meeting said the environmental challenges facing the lakes are mitigated by positive policy changes and public awareness of environmental challenges. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Ted Smith said while some flame retardants — dangerous chemicals that had been turning up in fish tissue and human breast milk in recent years — have been phased out of production, other types of chemicals are on the rise. Pharmaceuticals and surfactants, used as foaming or wetting agents in products such as soaps and detergents, are continually discharged into the Great Lakes through sewer systems, Smith said. “Much of what goes down the drain winds up at these wastewater treatment facilities that are not necessarily designed to knock out each and every chemical that’s out there, and that’s a real concern,” he said. David Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, said he believes Windsor’s plan to build a water retention basin will reduce the discharge of sewage waste into the river and improve the quality of the area’s beaches and recreational waters. Ullrich said many beaches along the Great Lakes are contaminated by sewage, runoff from agricultural land, seagull and goose droppings. While municipal wastewater infrastructure projects can reduce these problems, he said citizens can also help improve the quality of water and beaches by using low-flow toilets, directing downspouts into their yards rather than into the storm water system and not littering on the beach. The jury is still out on whether eating Great Lakes fish is a good idea, though. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, said the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may counteract the negative health impacts of some contaminants. “People seem to fall into one of two groups: either they think all fish is horrible and you should never eat it, or they think all fish is going to save you from every disease in the world and that’s all you should eat. The truth is somewhere in between.” Carpenter said fish lovers should avoid eating large specimens, focus on species that don’t eat other fish, and remove the skin before consuming them.

Concern over Great Lakes fish will remain even after current toxins fade October 8th, 2009 Steve Orr / Democrat and Chronicle New York’s advisories on consumption of Lake Ontario fish are based on chemicals that, for the most part, were banned decades ago and are increasingly rare in the environment. If current trends continue, officials say, the advisories based on those legacy pollutants can be moderated in the not-too-distant future. But that doesn’t mean that fish will be deemed entirely safe to eat. Lurking in the background are a variety of other contaminants that can accumulate in Great Lakes fish. “We know of other compounds that are likely out there,” said Larry Skinner, who heads environmental monitoring in the fish and wildlife division of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. At the top of this list, said Skinner and others, are polybrominated diethyl ethers, or PBDEs, which are flame retardants that were added to plastics used in electronics, furniture foam, textiles and other products. The sole U.S. manufacturer ended production of most forms of PBDE in 2004, but they remain ubiquitous in the environment. “We know the concentrations in water from Lake Ontario increased exponentially, which was reflective of usage in industry,” Skinner said. Comparable to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in terms of their ability to persist in the environment and accumulate in fatty tissue, PBDEs have been found in Great Lakes salmon, trout and walleye. There is concern they may prove every bit as toxic as PCBs as well. The DEC does not test fish for these compounds. Federal officials do limited monitoring, and the state hopes to pursue a federal grant to begin PBDE monitoring of its own, Skinner said. Officials at the state Department of Health, which issues fishing advisories after reviewing DEC data, said they probably would not issue an advisory based on PBDEs — based on what’s known today about the compound. “That’s the problem — there’s not a lot of data on PBDEs, and not as much toxicity information to help us decide what levels are of concern,” said Edward Horn, director of environmental health assessment for the state Health Department. Horn said there were other chemicals such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, perfluorinated compounds and the common anti-bacterial agent triclosan — that may build up in fish and bear watching. “There’s no question that a lot of these chemicals are of concern,” he said. One reason that New York has a statewide advisory against eating more than one meal a week of sport fish is the potential impact of these emerging compounds, he said. Only two other bodies of water in the Rochester region have their own advisories — Keuka Lake in Yates and Steuben counties, where consumption of larger lake trout is limited to one meal a month because of DDT levels, and Canadice Lake in Ontario County, where there’s a similar limitation on eating larger lake trout because of PCBs. Both advisories are due to improper disposal of those chemicals discovered decades ago near the lakes, Skinner said. PCBs are the primary driver of the advisories on Lake Ontario. While their manufacture and new use were banned in 1970s, PCBs remained in place in electrical and other equipment and likely are still entering the lake’s ecosystem in small doses, Skinner said. Their level in fish has fallen sharply since the 1970s, and the levels of PCBs, and other legacy pollutants, are now well below guidelines for fish set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But Horn said the agency uses a cautious approach. “We might not change an advisory … until we’re really sure that this isn’t something that hasn’t just happened this year,” he said.

Salmon are jumping at Port Hope fish ladder October 7th, 2009 / Northumberland Today Each year as fall arrives salmon begin their annual spawning run up the Ganaraska River in Port Hope. This provides an excellent opportunity to view the fish as they migrate upstream past the Ganaraska River Fishway. Various species of salmon, including Coho and Chinook, run up the river from late August to mid-October but the main concentration is in September. The eggs are laid in gravel depressions constructed by the females. These spawning beds are called redds. Anywhere from 2,000 to 17,000 eggs are laid in each redd. Although an average female will lay roughly 8,000 eggs the number of eggs depends on the size and condition of the female. The eggs will hatch in four to seven weeks. Other salmonid species using the fishway in the fall include fall run steelhead (rainbow trout) and anadiomous (brown trout). The Ganaraska River Fishway was constructed in 1973 to help the fish get past Corbett’s Dam to the spawning beds upstream. The Ganaraska River Fishway was made possible due to a joint venture of the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, the Ganaraska Sportsmen’s Association, the Municipality of Port Hope and a host of volunteers from Port Hope and the surrounding area. Prior to the construction of the fishway, fish were manually lifted over the barrier. The fishway is a 90-foot long concrete channel. Migrating fish jump up a series of nine pools each a foot higher than the previous one. Fishways are also called fish ladders. The fishway is designed to allow only the species that are wanted upstream to pass through its pools. People who intend to fish should be sure to have a fishing licence and a copy of the Fishing Regulations Summary as some special regulations apply. Fishing is not permitted from Highway 401 to Jocelyn St. This sanctuary is in place to protect the large concentration of salmon as they rest and prepare to run up the steps of the fishway. The Ganaraska River Fishway is located 65 miles east of Toronto. To reach it, exit from Highway 401 at County Road 28 in Port Hope and head south. Proceed to Jocelyn Street and turn right. Turn right onto Cavan Street from Jocelyn and follow the road a short distance to the fishway. Although the best view of the running salmon is from the west side, parking is available on either side of the Ganaraska River.

Cobourg Creek vital to bringing back salmon October 7th, 2009 Cecilia Nasmith / Northumberland Today Cobourg council learned this week that Cobourg Creek is vital in the campaign to restore Atlantic salmon to Lake Ontario. Visiting as what he called “a one-person good-will tour on behalf of the steering committee for the Lake Ontario salmon-restoration program,” Terry Quinney described the success of the first four years of the five-year Bring Back The Salmon Lake Ontario program. In Cobourg Creek, just one of their project locations, 28 restocking projects were undertaken, during which time Bring Back The Salmon invested $40,000 in such things as tree plantings along the bank and stream clean-up. Local volunteer involvement includes classroom-hatchery projects at both Cobourg District Collegiate Institutes East and West, where students receive fertilized eggs from brood stations that they grow to various life stages before being released. The program includes three full-time biologists who monitor the salmon eight months of the year. In Cobourg Creek, they are seeing four-year-old fish released at the beginning of the project, which is a sign of success. “This is not just a species-restoration program, as iconic as Atlantic salmon are to this community. We are trying hard to improve even further the quality of water and habitat associated with Cobourg Creek,” Quinney added. “These creatures demand an excellent water quality and habitat conditions, and that’s a tribute to our community that you have rebuilt the environmental quality of Cobourg Creek over a long period of time.”

If you'd like to harvest roe for bait then salmon roe is the way to go, specifically Chinook.