Huge Fish Kill Near Whistler, BC!

[River Rat]

from
[url=http://forum.fishbc.com/index.php?showtopic=23453:daba7]http://forum.fishbc.com/index.php?showtopic=23453[/url:daba7]

"Early today, Aug 5th, CN Rail had a train derailment in the Cheakamus River Canyon near Chance Creek which resulted in 4 rail cars of Caustic Soda to enter the Cheakamus River. From reports I have heard but not verified, 51 000 litres of Caustic Soda leaked from the cars and into the river. Fish kill is very large. I was informed of this around 1200 hrs and as I was in the field, I could not get there until 1300 hrs. There is much evidence of lots of dead and burnt juveniles in the river margins in the North Vancouver Outdoor School area of the river. Dead fish species I identified in a short 15 minute walk were steelhead, coho, chinook, char, sculpins and lampreys. I also found a adult chinook (20+ lbs) dead as well. Karl Halverson of the NVOS property also found dead Pink and Steelhead ( rainbow trout ) adults as well as numerous juveniles. He also took PH readings in the river and it went higher than 8 on his portable tester. That is very toxic. Many of the juveniles I observed were severly stressed and several had visable burn marks on them. Remember that this is about 15+ km downstream from where the spill happened. I suspect it's much worse farther upstream.

Please distribute this to who ever you feel need to see this. We can't let anyone put a spin on this suggesting that the damage is only minimal. It's not.! There are I'm sure thousands of dead fish and thousands more injured to the extent that they might as well be dead. This is a major blow to this river. Definetly the last thing the chinook, pinks and steelhead needed. I will update as more info becomes available."

Brian Klassen
(604) 898 - 3266
[url=http://forum.fishbc.com/index.php?showtopic=23453:daba7]http://forum.fishbc.com/index.php?showtopic=23453[/url:daba7]

[url=http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=canada_home&articleID=1998989:da ba7]http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=canada_home&articleID=1998989[/url:daba7]

------------------
[url=http://www3.telus.net/freeman:daba7]http://www3.telus.net/freeman[/url:daba7]




[This message has been edited by River Rat (edited 07 August 2005).]

[DG]

Apparently not too newsworthy, this is all I found on it tonight. Echoes of Cantera.
[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050805.wtrain0805/BNStory/Front:69667]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050805.wtrain0805/BNStory/Front[/url:69667]

[billknepp]

So how much of this system will be effected and for how long...?

------------------
"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best

"Wish ya great fishing"

Bill

[mojoman]

its gonna b a while before the river recovers....but if they let some water flow from the dam above this prob spot...should help...but...the damage has been done....dam shame!!!!!

mojo

[DG]

[url=http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=64aad25a-eae5-47f6-a53f-cbc335e35f3f:406d2]http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=64aad25a-eae5-47f6-a53f-cbc335e35f3f[/url:406d2]

[River Rat]

some photos [url=http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album33:8da1e]http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/album33[/url:8da1e]

------------------
[url=http://www3.telus.net/freeman:8da1e]http://www3.telus.net/freeman[/url:8da1e]

[DG]

Brian, you ought to be talking to the press, because this is a non-story to the rest of the world. I had trouble finding the two articles I linked to up above, and nothing in those says much about river conditions or dead fish. The tone I hear is "Nothing to worry about, it will go away".

Thanks for the photos and the heads-up on this happening.

[Dr. Fish]

Man that is a shame! I fished that river for the first time this past October. Landed my first ever Dolly and also caught a beautiful chrome bright Coho in the mid-teens. Makes me sick thinking of all the wildlife affected. No doubt that the rail company will walk away from this without a proper punishment.

------------------
Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!