1970 Annual Report

1970 ANNUAL REPORT • .. - .• . ' • • •• RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT BRANCH FISHERIES SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND FORESTRY OF CANADA MARITIMES REGION HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA (RESTRICTED TO OFFICIAL USE) J Pulp and paper • Mining • Food Processing • Agricultural areas (Pesticides/ Harvestingo rne poofshli,,o ,ell n)fish restricted (Dome stic • Other Industries 1 Oil Refineries 4 Oil Forest . Insecticide Spraying ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION PROBLEMS IN THE MARITIME PROVINCES OF CANADA 1 9 7 0 ANNUAL REPORT RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT BRANCH FISHERIES SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND FORESTRY OF CANADA MARITIMES REGION HALIFAX, N. S. APRIL, 1971 (Restricted to Official Use) CONTENTS Page 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 2.0 MANAGEMENT AND INVESTIGATION SECTION 6 2.1 Salmon Management 6 2.11 Commercial Statistics and Sampling 6 2.12 Miramichi River 8 2.13 Saint John River 10 2.14 Big Salmon River 13 2.2 Oyster Management 14 3.0 DEVELOPMENT AND EXPANSION SECTION 17 3.1 Salmon Development 17 3.11 East River Salmon Rehabilitation 17 1. Adult Salmon Transplant and Smolt Output 17 2. Louver Testing 18 3. Engineering Construction at East River 21 3.12 Liscomb River 22 3.13 Tetagouche River 22 3.14 Digdeguash River Obstruction 22 3.15 South Shore Nova Scotia Salmon Holding Pond 22 3.16 Petite Riviere Survey 23 (i ) Page 3.2 Oyster Development 23 3.21 Seed Production 23 1. Summerside Harbour, Prince Edward Island 23 2. Gillis Cove and Eskasoni, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia 24 3.22 Off-Bottom Rearing 25 3.23 Review of Programs and Leasing Policy 27 3.3 Hatchery Evaluation 27 3.31 Salmon Smolt Marking Program 27 3.32 Highlights of Smolt Tagging Results (1967-69) 28 3.4 Hatchery Engineering 29 3.5 Saint John River Salmon Hatchery Program 30 3.51 Smolt Tagging and Release 31 3.52 Adult Collections and Spawning Program 31 3.53 Mactaquac Rearing Program 32 3.54 Engineering at Mactaquac Hatchery 33 1. Water Supply 33 2. Improved Working Areas 34 3. General 34 3.55 Quality of Mactaquac Hatchery Water Supply 35 3.56 Public Relations 36 • Page 3.6 Fish Disease Investigations 36 4.0 HATCHERY PRODUCTION AND MAINTENANCE SECTION 38 5.0 POLLUTION ABATEMENT SECTION 45 5.1 Marine Oil Pollution 46 5.2 Forest Spraying 47 5.3 Saint John River, New Brunswick 47 5.4 Miramichi River, New Brunswick 49 5.5 Northeastern New Brunswick 50 5.6 Base Metal Mining 51 5.7 Nova Scotia Pollution Problems 52 5.8 Miscellaneous 54 6.0 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SECTION 55 6.1 Evaluation Studies 55 6.11 Petitcodiac River Fishway 56 6.12 Pictou Harbour and Middle River Fishways 57 6.13 White Rock Fishway 57 6.14 Great Village Aboiteau 58 6.15 Musquodoboit River 59 6.16 Steepass Fishway 59 6.17 Logging Operations 59 6.2 Research and Development 60 6.3 Mactaquac Sorting Facility 61 Page 6.4 Stream Alteration Investigations 62 6.5 Fish Passage Facilities 62 6.51 New Brunswick 62 6.52 Nova Scotia 63 6.53 Prince Edward Island 64 6.6 Obstruction Removal 65 BRANCH REPORTS - 1970 68 (iv) 1 . 0 INTRODUCTION 1.0 INTRODUCTION by C. P. Ruggles, Branch Chief Ever since the region was first settled, fish have provided Maritimers with an abundant and particularly healthful source of animal protein. Fish have also provided Maritimers with a readily available and widely utilized form of high quality, outdoor recreation. Perhaps more important in the long run, however, is the fact that fish have provided Maritimers with a readily observed and easily understood alarm system. Fish are part of a sensitive, ecological alarm system that continually monitors the rate of environmental change. Time and again fish have warned not only Maritimers, but all of Canada, about the dangers of environmental contamination. Here in the Maritimes, where fish play such an important economic and social role, water quality has not deteriorated to the same degree as in less fortunate areas of the world. By protecting fish, Maritimers have ensured a quality of life that may become the region's most valuable asset. In 1962, Rachel Carson directed public attention to the ominous threat of environmental pollution in the form of indiscriminate waste disposal and the widespread use of chemicals to control agricultural and forest pests. She concluded that it was the public that must decide whether it wished, "to continue on the present road". In the intervening eight years, environmental pollution has become a global emergency and a potent social, political and economic force in a rapidly shrinking world. This year's annual summary reflects how the Resource Development Branch in the Maritimes Region has responded to the water pollution threat in keeping with our general responsibilities to protect, develop and manage Maritime fish stocks so that they continue to provide food and fun for Canadians. For many years, the Department has had a strong statutory responsibility through the Fisheries Act for controlling water pollution in waters frequented by fish. This Act was amended in 1970 and several members of our technical staff participated in formu- lating important pollution control regulations under -2- the amended Act. These regulations will become law in 1971. It is anticipated that the amended Fisheries Act will become an important piece of legislation within the new Department of the Environment. The Branch's pollution control activities have been strengthened by the addition of four new professional staff and the construction of a pollution laboratory at the Bedford Institute in Dartmouth. These facilities serve as a base for biological, chemical and engineering studies into industrial waste treatment and control. Two new mobile laboratories allowed our professional and technical staff to handle on-site pollution problems more effectively. Current industrial activity continued to be the most serious contributor to environmental deter- ioration in the region. Negotiations to achieve pollution abatement agreements with new industries absorbed much of our energies throughout the year. Progress has been slow, but the growing support of public opinion is making the task easier. Much of this local public support stems from the activities of several members of the Resource Development Branch staff in informing the public about Maritime pollution issues. The long standing problem of water pollution emanating from base metal mines in Northeastern New Brunswick was attacked with a concerted effort in 1970. The Province of New Brunswick and the Department of Fisheries and Forestry collaborated in comprehensive studies involving all agencies and companies concerned. A consulting engineering company was retained as the co-ordinator of a multi-disciplinary approach to this persistent and difficult water pollution problem. One immediate result of this program was the delay in the development of the Chester Mine property on the Sevogle River; another was the encouraging progress made in the development of effective pollution control works at the Heath Steele Mine. Last February a massive emergency effort to offset ecological damage to the marine resources of Nova Scotia's Chedabucto Bay was organized. Resource Development Branch scientific and technical staff, along with personnel from several other government agencies, participated in a cleanup and evaluation exercise in response to the grounding of the oil tanker Arrow and its subsequent breakup. The assessment of damage from the oil spill showed no serious effects on fish stocks in the area. -3- Physical alterations of the aquatic environment occupied the attention of a bio-engineering team in the Environmental Protection Section of the Branch. One task of this unit was to evaluate the ecological damage caused by the construction of flood control dams and causeways. In one case, a significant run of Atlantic salmon was jeopardized by the lack of sufficient attrac- tion water necessary to move anadromous species from the estuary to their upriver spawning grounds. The situation was improved by providing a more suitable schedule of flow releases. This bio-engineering team was also responsible for establishing several standard design criteria for fishways. The abundant alewife was used rather than Atlantic salmon, because their large numbers provided greater flexibility in experimental design and hence a more effective testing period. At the 1970 meeting of the salmon and trout section of the Federal-Provincial Atlantic Fisheries Committee, a Miramichi salmon management crisis was identified. Differential exploitation of large salmon was believed to be endangering the effectiveness of natural reproduction. Resource Development Branch staff was shifted from the district biologist program in the Miramichi-Restigouche District, to full-time salmon management studies of the Miramichi system. These studies will lead to more effective fishery regulations based on all available scientific information. Restrictions imposed during 1970 on the Saint John River salmon catch were successful in providing an improved escapement of early run fish to that system. Salmon tagging experiments in the Bay of Fundy helped determine timing through the fishery and gave estimates of exploitation in the diverse sport and commercial fishery. Efforts continued in a study to assess the effect of hydroelectric dams on down- stream migrating salmon smolts from the valuable nursery areas above the dams on the Saint John River. The Branch worked closely with the Eskasoni Indians of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in helping to develop a viable oyster farming enterprise. In the Miramichi Bay area, oyster surveys revealed that the abundance of market sized oysters was too low to support a fishery. Consequently, commercial fishing was closed for the 1970 season in that area. The eight year salmon hatchery evaluation program completed its third year in 1970, and the results are being used to develop a more effective and economic hatchery propagation program. The returns -4- of tagged fish show that hatchery stocks (from Resti- gouche early run, Miramichi late run and River Philip late run) have contributed more to the distant fisheries of Newfoundland and Greenland than wild stocks (from Big Salmon River, West River, Sheet Harbour and the Miramichi River).

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