When environmentalist Gina Philie sets out to assess whether the La Prairie Basin on Montreal’s South Shore is due for a cleanup, she finds herself stumbling upon more than just trash.
Hundreds of dead fish and other creatures washed ashore.
“It was very disgusting because you’re literally just walking on different carcasses and you just have to go back to figure out what’s going on,” said Philie who is also a director at Vigile Verte, a local environmental group.
The organization was alerted to alarmingly low water levels at the end of February. It soon flagged the situation to Fisheries and Oceans Canada which is responsible for protecting aquatic ecosystems.
Every winter, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation water levels in certain channels and canals to facilitate maintenance procedures prior to the navigation season.
Biologist and founder of Vigile Verte, Philippe Blais, suspects that routine methods may be behind the large number of dead fish that he calls a “minor disaster.”
“Anything that isn’t adapted to move too fast, everything that lives on the bottom, well they’re not adapted to being without water especially in freezing temperatures,” he explained.
Philippe Blais explained that many of the animals affected by low water levels are at the bottom of the aquatic food chain and are therefore important to the overall health of their ecosystem. (Submitted by Gina Philie)
In other cases, the water level may drop too low trapping animals in shallow puddles causing them to eventually die of asphyxiation.
In a statement, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation the fact that it has been a very warm winter.
“Below the reduced ice cover, evaporation of water from the basin related to warmer weather conditions along with other factors related to climate change all contributed to the observed situation,” said corporation.
Philie said he is used to seeing the tide drop at this time of year but noticed it was at least 2 meters lower than usual. He said he wants government agencies to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The biologist and president of Vigile Verte said he is in talks with federal ocean authorities to see if the water level can be lowered in a way that doesn’t disrupt the health of aquatic ecosystems in the La Prairie Basin. (Rowan Kennedy/CBC)
André Bélanger, the executive director of Fondation Rivières, said it filed a complaint with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and asked St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation on how it will ensure this situation does not happen again.
“There is no reason that in 2024 we cannot do maintenance work without destroying the environment,” he said. “Nonsense.”
Water levels are expected to rise again later this month when the sea opens to navigation on March 22.
In the meantime, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it is contacting St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation to get more information.
