A fresh-caught whitefish with a golf ball-sized tumour growing from its side?
Not the sort of thing that would impress consumers checking out the fish on display at the local supermarket.
Who would eat it even if the price was slashed?
And a real bargain could be found in the cooler bin with fish missing parts of their spine, some without a snout, others coloured a putrid red instead of the healthy cream-colour that whitefish possess when baked or put on the home smoker.
There could be more bargains at the store with prices slashed to the minimum in the cooler bin: fish covered with lesions and others bent and from deformed vertebrae. All caught from Lake Athabasca.
But who in their right mind would even be tempted to indulge in such a disgusting, unpalatable whitefish?
Residents living downstream from the Northern Alberta oilsands, who depend on fish from Lake Athabasca to put supper on the table, are asking that question.
The people are afraid. It’s this fear that is driving scientists and aboriginals to ask the federal government to conduct an independent study into what’s happening to the Athabasca River and its watershed after industry expansion cozied up to its banks decades ago.
Without a doubt, there is something wrong in those waters. That is best reflected by the impact on the species of fish inhabiting the Athabasca watershed and Lake Athabasca. Last week, to drive that point home, weird-looking fish — deformed, ugly and discoloured like something out of a sci-fi movie — were put on display.
“A lot of people are afraid to eat fish from the lake,” said Robert Grandjambe of Fort Chipewyan, downstream from the oilsands. “It’s time we had a proper monitoring study done.”
Recent independent studies of the Athabasca watershed have shown those waters downstream of the oilsands hold unusual levels of hydrocarbons — some carcinogenic — and toxic heavy metals, mercury and lead. The levels are growing.
The deformed fish on display last week weren’t part of a formal scientific survey. But it doesn’t take an expert to conclude something is wrong. Ask the local residents who have depended on the river for decades and have witnessed growing, troubling circumstances. Their observations are credible.
“I never even saw deformed fish in my younger days,” said Grandjambe.
A letter has been sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of scientists, residents living downstream from the oilsands and various municipal and provincial officials, requesting an urgent study.
The urgency cannot be understated. Human well-being and environmental health are at stake.
University of Alberta biologist David Schindler recently rattled the cages of environmental government departments by releasing the results of independent studies he has conducted on the Athabasca watershed.
The results were frightening. Yet the provincial government relied on data from its own studies, conducted by the industry, to dispute Schindler’s findings, saying the contaminants in the water are naturally occurring.
How can the government be so obtuse?
Even the federal government is downplaying the urgency for a competent water evaluation. Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice said last week that his department is testing out some magic “fingerprinting” machine to determine if the waters are being poisoned naturally or if industry is to blame.
Regardless of who officials choose to blame, time is running out.
Rick Zemanek is an Advocate editor.