The Environmental Effects Monitoring Program for the Pulp and Paper Industry in Canada: National Patterns resulting in IOC for Reduced Investment into Reproduction

摘要

Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) is a scientific tool that assesses the effects of effluent from industrial or other sources, on fish, fish habitat or the human use of the fisheries resources. Pulp and Paper Environmental Effects Monitoring was Canada's first national EEM program, has been followed by Metal Mining and Municipal Wastes are in development. The Canadian government provides advice on existing regulations, approval of study designs, review of reports, maintains a national EEM database and conducts national assessments of the data. The cycles of monitoring and reporting started with Cycle 1 in 1996, Cycle 2 in 2000, Cycle 3 in 2004, Cycle 4 in 2007 and Cycle 5 in 2010. National Assessments of the Pulp and Paper EEM Program have been completed and have identified distinct response patterns. The national pattern identified consistently in fish is one of metabolic disruption where fish grow faster, store more energy but put less into reproductive development. A national project was formed to investigate the cause of this reproductive dysfunction consisting of government, academia and industry scientists. This presentation with overview the national responses in wild fish as well as some of the more detailed reproductive studies.