Whenever you hear about salmon farm impacts, inevitably it is about sea lice infecting wild juvenile salmon, or maybe diseases. However, there is another issue that is very concerning…the potential that the waste from salmon farms are contaminating and killing off shellfish beds.
For thousands of years, First Nations have relied upon the traditional clam gardens of Waiatt Bay, which contains 40 culturally modified clam beds. A culturally modified clam bed has been built up and modified over centuries by local indigenous people to enhance the health, abundance and sustainability of clam production. In the last few years we’ve been hearing reports that the clam gardens are dying, so we decided to go see for ourselves. Waiatt Bay is of particular interest as it is in the middle of the Wild Salmon Narrows.
Digging for clams in Waiatt Bay
As we entered Waiatt Bay on the east side of Quadra Island, clam gardens were evident in every nook and cranny possible, where for thousands of years First Nations worked these sea gardens by rolling the large rocks down to the low tide line in order to improve the habitat for the clams and cockles they harvest. Immediately upon setting foot on shore, the elders went to work digging clams, as their ancestors before them…and hopefully their children after them!
We took a look at several of the clam gardens, and at first glance the clams seemed healthy. However the beaches were full of whole empty shells, which suggests many had died fairly recently. Butter clams seemed to be most affected, while the deeper little necks appeared fine.
Unhealthy, blackened butter clams harvested in Waiatt Bay
The elders slowly filled a few buckets until it was time to head back. The clams collected appeared to be healthy and although the abundance of clams at all the sites we visited was greatly reduced from historical levels, they were able to collect enough to look forward to a good clam dinner. As former Homalco Chief Darren Blaney began opening the butter clams harvested on the apparently healthy beaches, he found them all inedible. The clams were not good at all; rather than a nice healthy pink, they were blackened and sickly looking inside.
It’s not clear why these clam gardens are dying, but the Cyrus Rocks open net-cage fish farm only 1.5 km from the mouth of the bay is a prime suspect. This is the same type of impact being witnessed on beaches near fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago. While we await the results of a study being conducted there, perhaps we should be looking more closely at the beaches near the farms in this area as well.
Credit: This post was originally published here on the Georgia Strait Alliance blog.
To watch a video of the dig, go to the Wild Salmon Narrows Facebook page.
Tags: clam beds, farmed salmon, First Nations, pollution, salmon farming, wild salmon narrows
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by UBCIC. UBCIC said: RT @salmbassador: Another fish farm casualty? Waiatt Bay traditional clam gardens dying – http://ow.ly/26uQc [...]
Why are you harvesting shellfish in June/July? Everyone who knows about shellfish knows not to harvest them in months that don’t have the letter ‘R’ – what you’re seeing isn’t unusual for a unused clam beach in warm summer months.
Sheila
Thanks for your question. It’s unlikely that the problem is a seasonal one. Clams tend to spawn in the summer months (one of the reasons it is suggested not to harvest in months with no ‘R’). Regardless, clams found which are spawning at this time should be milky-looking rather than blackened.
Another concern is the impact of biotoxins from plankton blooms, commonly known as red tide, which can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning to a person ingesting an infected clam. As it has no effect on the appearance of the clam, shellfish harvesting is restricted while the plankton is in the area. Although restrictions tend to be more common in summer months, they are not in place universally through the months with no ‘R’.
We do not know what is impacting the clams we found and are working on it. The potential link with fish farm waste is not a new idea and is currently being studied in the Broughton Archipelago.
Did you hear about the lobster farmer in New Brunswick across the bay from a fish farm a few months ago? He found most of his lobsters dead one day, and testing found man made neurotoxins had done it. SLICE I think. The farmer settled for an undisclosed amount of money, the environment and the wild wait in vain.
I have read reports of this incident. Cypermethrin is a sea lice control drug that has been used in other parts of the world but is not approved for use in Canada. Recently in the east coast of Canada there have been several incidents where this drug was found in dead or dying lobsters. Since there is no other obvious source for this drug, many suspect it came from salmon farms which may have used it illegally to control sea lice. Sea lice in eastern Canada have recently been reported to have developed resistance to Slice (a legal drug in Canada).