Sources:
Eastern Graphic, September 11, 1996
West Price Graphic, July 24, 1996
The Guardian, July 24, 1996 and September 10, 1996

Fungicides used in potato farming were implicated in a major salmon and trout kill this summer on Prince Edward Island (Canada), but government officials believe evidence reguarding the deaths is not conclusive. Approximately 40,000 young salmon and more than 5,000 trout were found dead in a salmon rearing facility and nearby trout pond on July 20, 1996. The deaths occurred shortly after a heavy rainstorm that some believe washed chlorothalinil-contaminated water into the fish ponds. Chlorothalinil is a fungicide widely used in the region for potato production.

Tests of water samples taken 19 hours after the rain did detect chlorothalinil in the salmon and trout water at levels above thsoe considered safe for aquatic life by the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment. However, officials at the Prince Edward Island Department of environmental Resources stated that the levels were not high enough to be considered toxic to fish. One department official conceded that concentrations may have been higher at the time of the deaths.

This incident marks the fourth major fish kill on Prince Edward Island in three years. Potato pesticides were the convrmed casue of death in two of these fish kills, and were highly suspected int the third.

Contact: Sharon Lubchuk, Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island,
126 Richmond Street, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada C1A1H9
902-566-4696 phone
902-566-4037 fax