Study shows Athabasca fishery in decline

Arctic grayling have all but disappeared from the Athabasca region. The provincial government is looking at catch-and-release rules for the fish in the northeast in an attempt to revive the population.
Photograph by: Dave Park, Alberta Fish and Wildlife

Study shows Athabasca fishery in decline

Catch-and-release regulations vital for Arctic grayling revival

By Sheila Pratt, Calgary Herald/Edmonton Journal February 2, 2015

EDMONTON - When Mike Sullivan was a young boy, he and his father would throw a line in almost any small stream around Fort McMurray and pull out Arctic grayling.

Now, grayling has virtually disappeared from the northeast rivers, according to a new study that also says two other migratory species — mountain whitefish and long nose suckers — have declined dramatically the past 40 years.

Fish health in the Athabasca watershed has showed “significant change,” especially since the 1990s when oilsands development expanded dramatically, says the new study by University of Lethbridge biologists Astrid Schwalb and Joe Rasmussen.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1uW5g4R

Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer Confirms Toxic Water Contamination From Massive Coal Slurry Spill

Pictures of a 100 km long leak of coal mine sludge, making its way down the Athabasca River. This photo taken on Nov. 11 or 12, near the confluence of the Lesser Slave River. One billion litres of sludge leaked from the closed Obed Mountain Mine near Hinton on Oct. 31.

Photograph by: Supplied, Alberta Environment

Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer Confirms Toxic Water Contamination From Massive Coal Slurry Spill

Donna Lisenby | November 14, 2013

Thank goodness for Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health. After 14 days of stonewalling by the Alberta Government, he released some of the water test results from the gigantic 1 billion litre coal slurry spill into the Athabasca River from the Obed Mountain coal mine near Hinton, Alberta.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1aavNE3

Time for Alberta to come clean about environmental accidents

Pictures of a 100 km long leak of coal mine sludge, making its way down the Athabasca River. This picture taken Nov. 3, near the confluence of the Plante and Athabasca rivers. One billion litres of sludge leaked from the closed Obed Mountain Mine near Hinton on Oct. 31.
Photograph by: Supplied , Alberta Environment

Time for Alberta to come clean about environmental accidents

By Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal November 14, 2013

EDMONTON - Mercury levels nine times higher than normal.
Levels of cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons four times the allowed standard for Canadian drinking water.

Those are the kinds of disturbing test results Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, is seeing as he monitors a huge plume of coal mine waste water currently oozing down the Athabasca River.

“Our overriding concern is the safety of the drinking water,” says Talbot. “We’re advising people, ‘Don’t draw water as the plume is going by.’ ”

Read story here: http://bit.ly/1cWmNG5