Poissons du Québec empoisonnés par exprès dans 140 lacs

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Friday » October 6 » 2006

Deliberate fish eradication fuels anger

Michelle Lalonde
CanWest News Service


Friday, October 06, 2006


MONTREAL - Environmentalists and a native band in central Quebec's
lake-dotted Mauricie region are angry the province has deliberately
eradicated all the fish in a tiny lake.

Ayami Chilton, an Attikamekw Indian who hunts and fishes for sustenance, was
upset to discover dead fish littering the shore of Lac Poisson Blanc. He
spotted a sign from Quebec's Department of Natural resources and wildlife
warning that it had been treated with Rotenone, a pesticide that kills fish
and insects.
The band says it was not told in advance about the poisoning.

But the department says it has authorized fish eradications in about 140
lakes in the Mauricie region in the last 30 years, according to Michel
Lemieux, a biologist with the department. The goal is to kill invasive
species and restock the lake with speckled trout, seen as a more desirable
species, especially to sport fishermen.

But fish eradications remain controversial, especially because native
communities living near lakes that are treated are not routinely notified
before lakes on their ancestral territories are ''managed'' in this way.

''We are horrified to be presented with a fait accompli like this,'' Chilton
said. ''We are just sickened by it.''

Jean Benoit, the department's director of wildlife management for the
Mauricie region, noted that Rotenone has been approved in Canada for this
type of use, and the department follows strict environmental standards for
projects such as this one.
He explained that logging operations and sport fishermen in the early part
of the last century brought new types of fish into many lakes in Quebec's
north. These ''foreign'' species compete for food with native species and
sometimes prove hardier, causing reduced populations of the original
species.

But environmentalists are suspicious .

''We are very skeptical about this practice,'' said Andre Bouthillier,
president of Eau Secours!, a coalition of environmental groups concerned
with water issues.

''I have difficulty believing this is good for the eco-system. It might be
good for the hunting and fishing organizations up there. It might attract
the Americans and the international jet-setters...But we are transforming
these natural lakes into aquariums for people to fish in. It's basically
running a fish breeding operation out of natural lakes. Of course the
natives up there would find this shocking. They just don't do things like
this.''

Montreal Gazette

CanWest News Service 2006