Government sleuths sent to solve case of dead fish

A team of Environment Canada inspectors and scientists will arrive in Sidney early this week to investigate why fish are dying in Reay Creek.

More than 100 coho fry introduced to Reay Creek by elementary school children this spring were found belly-up in its pools and tributaries on Oct. 29. Several sticklebacks, which are considered to be hardier fish, were also floating on the surface of the poisoned stream.

"This occurrence is deemed serious," Ken Wile, head of inspections for Environment Canada, Pacific and Yukon region, said Friday. "Fish kills seem to be a chronic problem here."

The Environment Canada team will meet with officers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to review documents on this fish kill and one in March 2003, which wiped out more than 500 coho fry and 80 cutthroat trout that had colonized the creek from the ocean.

The inspectors will meet with the Victoria Airport Authority and inspect possible sources of contamination at the airport. They will inspect storm drains and run-off in the catchment area of the creek throughout the Sidney neighbourhood.

Some environmentalists have charged that the airport authority is responsible for the fish kills because it allowed toxic chemicals to wash off its property into a tributary of Reay Creek that runs through the property.

Last week, Richard Paquette, chief executive officer of the Victoria Airport Authority, said he wasn't aware of anything that could have caused the fish to die, but would investigate the kill and share information with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and other authorities.

Fisheries officer Stephan Beckmann believes a concentrated pollutant entered the stream and killed the fish.

Fisheries and environment officers have authority under the Fisheries Act to lay charges if someone has discharged material into the water that is toxic to fish. The maximum fine for this offence is $300,000, said Wile.

The inspectors will spend two to three days collecting water, sediment and fish samples from the Reay Creek system. They will continue to work with fisheries officers until they have solved the mystery, said Wile.

Biologist Ian Bruce, who works for Peninsula Streams, a stream and marine restoration organization, is encouraged that Environment Canada is taking the kills seriously. "It's a great thing. It's a positive step to find out what is killing the fish."