Former Xatsull First Nation chief Bev Sellars recalls an emergency meeting after the Mount Polley Mine disaster, where elders were in tears as they thought of fish swimming through the toxic waste that had inundated their territorial waters.
"There are physical changes you can still see," Sellars said. "There's still things happening in the lake."
Research also shows tiny invertebrates that form the basis of the aquatic food chain displayed elevated metal accumulation at sites affected by the spill, suggesting material from the disaster was proving potentially toxic to the creatures for years after the initial breach. "The reason why we were going after these bugs, these invertebrates, is because they sit at the base of the food chain," Pyle said. "They make up a significant portion of smaller fishes' diet. The small fish comprise the larger fishes' diet and so on up the food chain."
Fine particles of sediment contaminated with copper and other metals, "stayed in suspension for months and then it slowly sort of rained down to the bottom of the lake," Owens said. She said the mining company has studied toxicity in fish tissues, but the research made available online hasn't been easy to access and assess.
Fishing in Quesnel Lake is still robust, and the Mount Polley mine disaster now "seems to be a far distant memory," said Marita Boxrud, owner of the Plato Island Resort, located far upstream from the tailings breach. "We just have to look at the state of Fraser sockeye. Every impact is something that we try to avoid right now," he said. "We've had some of the worst returns on record this past year for Fraser River sockeye."
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