Monitoring of at-risk species set to start

[Spiel]

Monitoring of at-risk species set to start

 

Mar 28, 2008

Craig Campbell/ Dundas Star

 

 

 

Several organizations will team up to monitor the effect of a July pesticide spill into Spencer Creek on animals that use the creek and Cootes Paradise as a food source.

 

Fire douse water from a Head Street pesticide plant fire allegedly killed all living organisms in the creek, which flows into Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour.

 

The contamination may have effectively wiped out the food source for several at-risk or endangered species, and potentially created new at-risk species of animals that once thrived in the area.

 

But no new data has been collected over the past eight months as monitoring of the birds, amphibians and mammals that eat in and around Spencer Creek has not started yet.

 

But Ministry of Environment spokesperson Jennifer Hall said a rehabilitation and recovery plan drawn up by a partnership including the MOE, Hamilton Conservation Authority and Royal Botanical Gardens will include monitoring of animals affected by the loss of their food source.

 

Small aquatic organisms;

 

"No one agency can do it," Ms. Hall said. "We have to rely on the expertise everyone has to offer. The ministry is monitoring the recovery of the small aquatic organisms which are the food supply for fish.

 

"Additional sampling of the creek for both water and sediment quality will be carried out in the spring."

 

Counts of other animals in addition to fish will also take place beginning in the spring.

 

But Karla Spence-Diermair, species at-risk biologist at the RBG, said it could be quite a while before anyone determines whether the July 2007 spill actually impacted animals other than fish and microscopic aquatic organisms.

 

"Basically, it would be ongoing research, and we'd discover it over the years," Ms. Spence-Diermair said.

 

She said that would include finding evidence of a particular species being wiped out completely, or a brand new at risk species being created from an animal that was once stable.

 

Among the species considered at risk in the Spencer Creek area are specific fish and turtles. Ms. Spence-Diermair suggested birds may naturally defend themselves because they fly off to find a new food source.

 

"But they probably drank the water, which would have more of an impact than losing their food source," she said.