Oil and chemical spill tracking

Spills of oil and chemicals into freshwater and ocean environments have killed fish, degraded habitat, and led to closures of commercial, recreational, and Indigenous fisheries. Raincoast’s Healthy Waters Program is positioned to collect data at the scene of a spill and collaborate with various organizations and First Nations to understand the impact of a spill. 

Tracker will host a number of rugged analytical instruments, and enable the measurement of several contaminants in the field, including coliform bacteria, nutrients, metals, pesticides, and tracers of wastewater effluent.
Photo by Peter Ross.
Two sockeye salmon swimming in a river.
Photo by Fernando Lessa.

Spills happen

Spills originate from all manner of accidents. The 2005 train derailment that spilled caustic soda into the Cheakamus River that killed 500,000 fish, The 2015 spill of 3,000 L of Bunker C oil from the MV Marathassa into English Bay. The 2020 fire aboard the MV ZIM Kingston in Juan de Fuca Strait that resulted in the loss of 104 mixed cargo shipping containers into the ocean. Each and every accident is bad news, and threatens the health of fish and whales, and contributes to the degradation of their habitats.

Being prepared is key

Given the sudden and unpredictable nature of oil and chemical spills, our oil and chemical spill response work entails being agile and available for support to First Nations, government agencies, and industry during a major spill. We are developing science protocols, and acquiring sampling kits, field equipment, and safety gear, and are poised to deploy our team to the scene of a spill. 

Being prepared on all fronts is key to limiting the damage from a spill. We recognize that with spills, it’s not a matter of if, but when. Research and monitoring to confirm the origin of the spill, track the fate of the spilled product, and monitor the recovery of ecosystem components routinely fails to be a priority. We will deploy expert capacity where and when needed, and work to prevent harm to valued ecosystem components.

Two people working together to collect water samples in a farm field with the mountains in the background.
Photo by Alex Harris.
https://www.raincoast.org/reports/flood

Semá:th X̱ó:tsa (Sumas Lake) Floods of 2021

The catastrophic floods of late 2021 in southern British Columbia (Canada) and neighbouring Washington State (USA) destroyed homes, farms and businesses, with excess water spilling debris, animal carcasses and diesel fuel into historically productive fish habitat. 

We assembled a team to assess water quality in the former Semá:th X̱ó:tsa (Sumas Lake) area of the Fraser Valley over a seven-week period after the floods. We collected water samples from 11 surface water sites and four groundwater sites for comprehensive contaminant analysis and a subsequent risk-based evaluation. We measured 379 analytes (chemical components and bacteria), including 262 anthropogenic contaminants. We examined excess nutrients, metals, fecal coliform, hydrocarbons, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, perfluorinated compounds, sucralose, and tire-related chemicals.

Read the report

Recent articles

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Salmon farmers have earned suspicion

by Mike Price Times Colonist August 29, 2009 Raincoast Conservation agrees with Clare Backman that caution should be used before laying blame for the Fraser River sockeye collapse on salmon farms (“Don’t blame fish farms for sockeye decline,” Aug. 27).
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Coexisting with bears

by Chris Genovali Edmonton Journal August 31, 2009 Re: “Bears kept eating as companions shot; ‘Serious public safety issue’ required quick action, official says,”.   The massacre – as one local resident described it – at the Conklin dump is a reminder of similar problems here in British Columbia with “control kills” of bears.
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Fraser Sockeye: Scale of sea-lice problem?

by Mike Price Globe and Mail, Aug. 19, 2009 Paul Sprout, of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, writes that sea lice from fish farms are not the explanation for this year’s crash of Fraser River sockeye (Fishing For Answers – letters, Aug. 15). How can anyone make such a conclusive statement at this juncture?
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Is push to export oil to China worth risk of catastrophic spill?

Edmonton Journal, August 10, 2009 By Chris Genovali, A recent Canwest News report described how “China’s energy buying spree is bypassing Canada’s oilpatch.” Depending on one’s viewpoint, this could besomething to lament or something to be relieved about.
Three transient killer whales, visible by their dorsal fins, swim through the Salish Sea, The mountains of the Olympic Peninsula visible in the background.

Of whales and plastic

I had spent the entire day hiking solo around Trutch Island on B.C.’s central coast looking for the feces of canis lupus for Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s wolf research project. Trutch doesn’t have a lot of distinguishing features and the landscape became somewhat uniform in the stupefaction caused by 10 hours of bush whacking.
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Way to go Thrifty Foods

Plastics impact the health of our oceans and wildlife. Plastic bag litter has a lethal effect on countless numbers of seabirds, turtles, whales and seals annually. Read our article, “Of Whales and Plastic.” On behalf of our marine ecosystems and future generations, we commend Thrifty Foods for their leadership in eliminating plastic bags from distribution.
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Climate skeptics fiddle with truth while planet burns

Vancouver Sun BY CHRIS GENOVALI AND PAUL PAQUET, SPECIAL TO THE SUN, AUGUST 5, 2009 We’re all entitled to our own opinions, but not our own set of facts.
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Howling and yowling

MONDAY MAGAZINE -letters July 29, 2009 Howling and yowling Re: “Big Cats on the Prowl,” July 2-8 I am compelled to respond to some of the myriad inaccuracies in Willi Boepple’s letter about cougars, Sitka black-tailed deer and my article on both species which recently appeared in Monday.