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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In and out of Africa

By Chris Darimont Research Scientist, Rainforest Wolf Program Tanzania, December 2008 Guttural roars and the cracking of bone drown out any sound of the river, which by this time of year has slowed to a mere trickle. On its banks, blood-soaked muzzles plunge into fallen prey as if it were their final meal.
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War on wolves fails test of reason, efficacy and morality

The real culprit in the decline of the caribou is human activity The Vancouver Sun December 18, 2008 By Chris Darimont and Chris Genovali With dismay we read Larry Pynn’s article (Wolves killed to protect caribou, Dec. 15) regarding the B.C. government’s clandestine war on wolves. What an astounding folly-in-the-making, and on several grounds.
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Silent Fall and Ghost Runs

ISLAND TIDES Dec 11, 2008 By Chris Genovali The silence along the river was almost deafening. No birds, bears or wolves appeared along the banks. The reason soon became obvious: not a single salmon was to be seen in the glacial-fed water. Not a single salmon carcass lay on the ground, not in the estuary…
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SALMON POPULATIONS: Watch more streams

GLOBE AND MAIL Editorial December 8, 2008 The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is not monitoring enough rivers to be able to accurately assess the state of the Pacific salmon fishery, according to a new study. Since the preservation of salmon stocks depends on knowing how few are left, it appears the fishery…
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Monitoring gaps endanger salmon runs: study

Lack of accurate stock information leads to overfishing, scientists say BY JUDITH LAVOIE Times Colonist DECEMBER 4, 2008 Salmon runs are collapsing because inadequate and inaccurate monitoring by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is leading to overfishing, says a study published yesterday in the National Research Council’s Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science….
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Overfishing pushing salmon stocks near collapse, study warns

MARK HUME Globe and Mail December 3, 2008 VANCOUVER – Salmon stocks in British Columbia are on the brink of collapse largely because the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has consistently allowed too many fish to be killed in commercial and recreational fisheries, according to a new research paper.
Two salmon swimming near the rocky bottom of Fraser River.

Ghost Runs: Management and status assessment of Pacific salmon returning to British Columbia’s central and north coasts

Price, M.H.H., C.T. Darimont, N.F. Temple, and S.M. MacDuffee. 2008. Ghost Runs: Management and status assessment of Pacific salmon returning to British Columbia’s central and north coasts. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 65:2712-2718 https://doi.org/10.1139/F08-174 Ghost Runs in pdf
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Faecal-centric approaches to wildlife ecology and conservation

Darimont, C.T., T.E. Reimchen, H. Bryan, and P.C. Paquet. 2008. Faecal-centric approaches to wildlife ecology and conservation; methods, data and ethics. Wildlife Biology in Practice 4: 73-87. Faecal-centric approaches in pdf