Yellowknife (May 21/04) - A local environmental group is wondering whether Baker Creek's fledgling grayling run will return this spring, after a pile of oil-stained debris was discovered melted into the ice above their spawning grounds.

Ecology North member Kevin Kennedy holds a pair of gas caps he found amid debris covering the ice over a portion of Baker Creek, where Arctic grayling are known to spawn. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

It was only a month ago that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced a catch-and-release only policy for anglers hoping to reel in Arctic grayling.

The fish are returning to the creek to spawn after a decades-long absence.

Their return has been heralded by some as a modern day miracle, because pollution from Giant Mine -- through which the creek runs -- destroyed the run many years ago.

DFO hoped the catch-and-release rule -- the only one in the Northwest Territories -- would help bolster the number of the prized game fish returning every year, but after Ecology North's Kevin Kennedy observed debris on the creek Wednesday, he had to wonder whether there will be a spawning bed left for them to return to.

'Now it's almost too late'

"There's a good chance the grayling won't be able to survive or spawn the way they normally should," said Kennedy.

"There doesn't appear to have been any care taken whatsoever to clean this up. And now it's almost too late because the ice will be breaking up."

Under Section 35.1 of the Fisheries Act, it states "no person shall carry on any work or undertaking that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat." The maximum fine for a first offence is $300,000.

DFO did not return phone calls before press time.

The pile of debris is located directly atop an area of the creek where grayling have been observed spawning the last couple years, and also where dozens of anglers line up every spring to try and catch them.

The creek's spawn typically starts the third week of May and lasts until early June.

Oily gloves and 4x4s

Among the debris found were two 4x4 beams covered in an oily substance, several torn up pieces of blue tarp and fibreglass insulation now imbedded into the ice, a pair of gas can caps, one industrial-use rubber glove smeared with tarry gunk, a piece of metal wire mesh, a couple of piles of dirty wood chips, a large pile of muddy sludge and rock, and a red, oily liquid -- possibly gear oil -- seeping into the ice.

Most of the debris is more or less enclosed inside a plywood frame also imbedded in the ice. Other pieces of wood were seen scattered around the site, and what appears to be tire tracks were noticed leading from the debris to a gravel road.

Yellowknifer later learned the pile of debris is the remains of a pumphouse used to pump water for a drilling operation.

The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs commissioned it during the winter to check the stability of the rock above some nearby arsenic trioxide chambers.

When contacted Wednesday afternoon, Connors Drilling field superintendent Rick Guile said he thought his company had removed all of the structure a couple of months ago.

"I don't think there's any of ours still there," said Guile.

"I should drive by and have a look though. If any of it's ours, it'll be gone right away."

A few hours later, Giant Mine remediation co-ordinator Bill Mitchell reported that most of the debris had been removed, and that the grayling spawning bed was never at risk.

He denied that his department had been pressured to act because of inquiries he received from Yellowknifer and Ecology North.

"The plan was to clean it up once the thaw started," said Mitchell.

"The site is really quite clean. There was no arsenic or anything like that anywhere near there."

He said the department never noticed any red, oily liquid on the ice, adding that he was not worried about hydrocarbons entering the water after the ice melts.

When asked why the pumping shed had to be built over the spawning bed and not some other part of the creek, Mitchell said it was the only way they could do it.

"That actually was the same spot we took water from the previous year and there were no harmful effects at all," said Mitchell, adding that Connors Drilling has a very good reputation and that's why they were contracted to do the job.

Afterwards, Kennedy scoffed at Mitchell's suggestion that the grayling run will suffer no ill effects.

"You can't run an engine or a pump that runs on gasoline or diesel fuel on a body of water without contaminating the water," said Kennedy.

"It's just not possible, so of course there's some contamination of that spot."