Heavy Metal Salmon: Sub-Lethal Toxicity in the Skeena

Heavy metals are common pollutants of aquatic systems, often associated with human activities. Hard-rock mining, agriculture, urbanization, and industrialization have enabled the release of significant quantities of heavy metals to aquatic ecosystems, sometimes with profound ecological harm.

All of the metals that were examined can negatively impact salmonids to some degree at concentrations below the levels known to cause lethality. Sub-lethal concentrations can alter behaviours related to predator avoidance, foraging, migration, and social interactions, and can cause the physical impairment associated with growth and development, swimming efficiency, and immune system responses.

Skeena salmon vs supertankers ....

Last month Save Our Skeena Salmon published THE SALMON RECIPES Stories of our Endangered North Coast Cuisine with all profits go to saving the BC coast from tankers.

This book came together over our concerns about a proposed oil tanker port invading our North Coast fiords and our historic salmon spawning waters, where the salmon return each year to renew the land and its people. When you embrace this spirit of renewal through our eyes, you will not only discover a vision of an amazingly rich cuisine-- you’ll come to understand and embrace the complex ecosystems of our land and its importance to our nations food security.

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