iv. Fish Tumours and Deformities

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BUI iv Fish Tumours and Deformities

Status: Impaired

 

What was the original problem? Hamilton Harbour was the only Canadian Area Of Concern originally to be listed as “having a brown bullhead population with external and liver tumor epizootics during studies carried out prior to the mid 1990s”.

 

Listing Guideline: When the incidence rates of fish tumours or other deformities exceed rates at unimpacted control sites or when survey data confirm the presence of neoplastic or preneoplastic liver tumours in bullheads or suckers.

 

Delisting Guideline: When the incidence rates of fish tumors or other deformities do not exceed rates at unimpacted control sites and when survey data confirm the absence of neoplastic or preneoplastic liver tumors in bullheads or suckers.

 

 

These projects are indirectly related to reducing fish tumours or other deformities:

• Municipal Industry Strategy for Abatement (MISA) program reduced inputs of chemicals into Hamilton Harbour by industry and municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (Ongoing)
• Natural burying of historical sediments by “cleaner” fill from the watershed and point source contributions (Ongoing)
•  Royal Botanical Garden Fishway: long-term visual monitoring of fish traversing the Fishway provides anecdotal evidence on frequency of visible tumours (Ongoing)  

 

Environment Canada reviewed fish tumour data from all Canadian Area Of Concerns (completed in 2010). Hamilton Harbour was the only Area Of Concerns site of the six surveyed which had a statistically significant difference from its reference site, which was Jordan Harbour.

 

What Still Needs To Happen?

 

 

• To be evaluated by the RAP Technical Team upon receipt of next Hamilton Harbour survey results. If status reverts back to “impaired’ based on that survey, anticipate a few years of recovery after the last sediment project is completed