Research funded by the National Contaminants Advisory Group (NCAG)

This project will test how interactions between crude oil and oil dispersants affect spawning capelin (their gamete quality and embryo development) in ways that would impair larval recruitment. Commercially exploited capelin (Mallotus villosus) are the most important fish in the northwest Atlantic food web (and are of significance in the Arctic and Pacific), being major forage for top predators such as Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), marine mamm...

Principal investigator: Craig Purchase

The development of pipeline projects across Canada is expected to expand shipments of diluted bitumen (dilbit) through vital freshwater and marine watersheds containing economically-important fish species. Futhermore, the expanding deep-water oil exploration and development off Canada’s east coast, and the potential sub-surface application of dispersants in the event of a blow-out, raise important questions about risks to commercially-importa...

Principal investigator: Valérie Langlois

Canada is the sixth largest oil producing country in the world producing an average of 197,000 m3 /d of bitumen, mostly from oil sands in northern Alberta. Canadian pipeline companies have proposed a number of major new transmission pipelines from this area, as well as increases in rail transport and the use of existing and proposed new marine terminals for tanker export of bitumen to overseas markets. In British Columbia (BC),...

Principal investigator: Christopher Kennedy

Native aquatic plant communities are essential components of healthy aquatic ecosystems and provide key habitat, refuge and food for aquatic species including fish. In contrast, invasive aquatic plant species are a significant threat to the health of aquatic ecosystems and can severely impair waterways. The effects of invasive plant species are compounded by nutrient enrichment, which can result in nuisance levels of native and invasive aquat...

Principal investigator: Frances Pick

Canada is the fourth-largest producer of farmed salmon in the world. In 2013, Canada’s salmon aquaculture sector had a farm-gate value of $816 million and provided 10,000 jobs. A sustainable salmon aquaculture sector is dependent on its ability to control pests and diseases primarily through the use of drugs and pesticides collectively known as therapeutants. To protect human health and the environment, these products are regulated by Health ...

Principal investigator: Christopher Kennedy

Current-use pesticides are carried through the air to arctic environments, where they are detected in the air, water, snow, sediments and organisms. Pesticides can be detected in water but generally occur in low concentrations. These pesticides are also detected in marine organisms, but current knowledge does not allow us to say whether these concentrations have adverse effects on organisms. This research project therefore aims to determine w...

Principal investigator: Jean-Pierre Gagn

The blue mussel is an important species in Canada, valued for its role in the aquaculture industry, its significance in the traditional diet of coastal populations, its role in the marine ecosystem, and its wide geographic range. When oil spills occur, chemical dispersants may be used to rapidly decrease concentrations of petroleum products in the affected area. An oil spill under ice cover in a coastal area could result in chronic pollution ...

Principal investigator: Richard Saint-Louis

The Canadian aquaculture industry is currently valued at $1 billion per year, most of which is generated through salmon farming along Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic Coasts. Rearing salmon in sea cages can pose many challenges to farmers, including the need to treat for sea lice infestations in order to maintain healthy farmed populations and for minimizing any risk of sea lice transfer to wild fish. As with terrestrial farming, the salmon aqua...

Principal investigator: Tillmann Benfey

Aquatic herbicides are a group of pesticides used to control aquatic weeds and invasive plants in surface waters. Diquat bromide is a registered pesticide that is commonly used in agriculture (e.g. potato, beans, and seed crops), but also in controlling aquatic submerged and floating weeds. The recommended timing of the pesticide application is once weeds are visible and in an active stage of growth, which can coincide with important spawning...

Principal investigator: Vicki Marlatt

Canada’s North holds abundant resources, and exploration and development are expected to significantly increase, with a promise of economic benefits for communities. These northern environments are also pristine, considered fragile, and experiencing unprecedented climate change. Therefore, a key aspect of ensuring sustainable resource development is an understanding of the potential for impacts, and establishing appropriate northern-specific ...

Principal investigator: James McGeer

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic chemicals that are important components of crude oil. Fish are exposed to background levels of PAHs in many aquatic environments across Canada, including the St. Lawrence basin. The “Stratégie Maritime du Québec” suggests that tanker traffic will increase significantly in the coming decades, making the possibility of an oil spill and exposure to high levels of PAHs in the St. Lawrence River mo...

Principal investigator: Jessica Head

Proposals to transport diluted bitumen (Dilbit) from Alberta to coastal terminals on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts have raised concerns among Canadians about the potential impacts of spills in marine and freshwater ecosystems. Although toxicity of other crude and refined oils has been tested extensively, toxicity of Dilbit and its components (i.e., bitumen and oil-gas condensates) is less well known. In general, the potential impacts o...

Principal investigator: Valérie Langlois

Pesticide impacts to aquatic ecosystems are a national and global concern. This research project aims to investigate a class of insecticides known as the neonicotinoids which represent the largest selling insecticide class and seed treatment in the global market. In Canada, they are widely used on diverse field crops that represent the bulk of the nations’ agricultural production: canola (oilseed rape), cereals, soybeans and corn, and are fre...

Principal investigator: Christy Morrisse

British Columbia’s killer whale populations are among the most contaminated marine mammals in the world and face risks related to the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and related contaminants such as polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). While PCBs have long been banned, they continue to present toxic risks to marine mammals, along with a number of other, newly emerging persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) contaminants. Sin...

Principal investigators: Frank Gobas, Peter Ross

The environmental quality of coastal waters and estuaries is a priority for Canadians, and where there may be concerns, an improved understanding of chemical impacts on near-shore ecosystems is essential to the responsible management of Canada's coastal areas. In recent years, Canadian aquaculture has become a billion dollar a year industry and the fourth-largest producer of farmed salmon in the world, however, this industry's use of anti-sea...

Principal investigator: Chris Kennedy

Canada is the sixth largest oil producing country in the world yielding an average of 197,000 m3/d of bitumen, mostly from oil sands in northern Alberta. Canadian pipeline companies have proposed a number of major new transmission pipelines from this area, increases in rail transport, and new marine terminal development for tanker export of bitumen to overseas markets. In BC, the routes of existing and proposed pipelines traverse the Fraser...

Principal investigator: Chris Kennedy

Current-use pesticides represent a potential health concern for anadromous salmonids throughout the Fraser River Basin. Pesticide contamination can be extensive in agricultural and urban watersheds and recent monitoring has shown that surface waters in major tributaries to the main stem of the Fraser River are frequently contaminated with diverse mixtures of insecticides, herbicides, and other biocidal compounds. The consequences of pesticide...

Principal investigator: Vicki Marlatt

Diluted bitumen is currently transported in Canada, and it is anticipated that shipped volumes will increase in the future. Accidental releases near rivers and lakes from proposed pipelines could be harmful to fish species including salmonids. Previous toxicity research using other crude oils suggests that early life stages of fish would be particularly sensitive to accidental release of diluted bitumen. This research project addresses sub-l...

Principal investigator: Todd E. Gillis

In Canada, as in elsewhere in the world, pesticides are widely used in agriculture. In the south-western region of Quebec, the rivers that flow through highly farmed areas carry pesticides to Lac Saint-Pierre. This ecosystem boasts great biodiversity, but for several years now the perch population has been in decline. In 2013, the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec implemented a project to explore the causes for this de...

Principal investigator: Monique Boily

Increased use of silver nanoparticles in consumer products has resulted in silver nanoparticles entering the environment. At the concentrations predicted to occur in the environment, it is unlikely that there will be direct mortalities to fish as a result of exposure. However, both silver nanoparticles and silver ion are bioavailable and produce sublethal toxic responses at μg/L concentrations. The mechanisms of uptake and toxicity are largel...

Principal investigator: Chris Metcalfe

Multiple point sources of contaminants, like effluents or runoffs, found along the coasts may represent toxicological hazards to marine organisms. Among these, persistent and bioaccumulative chemicals such as the halogenated flame retardants, used in a diversity of commercial products, have been determined at occasionally high levels in the Canadian environment and wildlife samples. Recently, a new generation of flame retardants have emerged ...

Principal investigator: Jonathan Verreault

The blue mussel is an important species in Canada, valued for its role in the aquaculture industry, its significance in the traditional diet of coastal populations, the part it plays in the marine ecosystem and its wide geographic range. An oil spill under ice cover in a coastal area could mean chronic pollution for mussels living on natural beds or in suspended culture sites, as long as the ice cover remains intact and limits the dispersion ...

Principal investigator: Richard Saint-Louis

Human activities result in the discharge of a diversity of chemicals into aquatic ecosystems. While some of these substances have been well characterized with respect to their adverse effects on aquatic organisms including fishes, the biological impact of many chemicals remains unknown. Emerging contaminants, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, nanoparticles, and brominated flame retardants are ubiquitously present in the en...

Principal investigator: Markus Hecke

Microplastics in the world’s oceans are increasingly seen as a threat to sea life, having been observed in industrialised coastal waters as well as in remote environments such as the Arctic. Past research conducted by the Vancouver Aquarium has found widespread microplastic contamination of British Columbia coastal waters and ready ingestion by two keystone zooplankton species, raising concerns about possible effects in marine food webs.

Principal investigator: Dr. Peter S. Ross

A greater understanding of how chemicals affect marine habitat is essential to supporting the protection of Canada's coastal waters. This extends to increasing our knowledge of the potential impact of chemicals in products used by the salmon aquaculture industry. Farmed salmon is Canada’s third-largest seafood export by value, and is a significant economic contributor to coastal and rural communities on the east and west coasts.

Principal investigator: Dr. Chris Kennedy, Simon Fraser University

Sea lice pose a significant problem for salmon aquaculture in Canada and around the world. Controlling these parasites is essential to protecting the health of farmed fish, as well as preventing the transfer of sea lice to wild salmon stocks.

Principal investigator: Dr. Chris Kennedy, Simon Fraser University

The release of pesticide chemotherapeutants from fish farms has raised concern about the potential impacts on non-target, indigenous species. Salmosan® 50WP is one of two pesticides currently permitted for use as a bath treatment to control sea lice in farmed Atlantic Salmon on the East Coast.

Principal investigator: Dr. Dounia Daoud , Homarus Inc.

The presence of contaminants in the Arctic has been well-documented, however the majority of Arctic toxicology research has focused on mercury and persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs and dioxins. To date, the risk that other environmental contaminants pose to Arctic species has been estimated ...

Principal investigator: Dr. Joanna Wilson, McMaster University

A large group of manufactured compounds commonly known as PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) became recognized as contaminants of concern at the turn of the 21st century. Widely used in stain repellants and non-stick coatings, PFCs are toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative.

Principal investigator: Dr. Paul Jones, University of Saskatchewan

The Beluga Whale population in the St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) was recently listed as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Elevated levels of contaminants in the tissue of these whales are thought to be an important threat to the health and recovery of this population.

Principal investigator: Dr. Jonathan Verreault, Université du Québec à Montréal

Microplastics, small pieces of plastic less than five millimetres long, have permeated the oceans including seawater and sediment, posing a major threat to marine life and ecosystems. However, there is little information about the extent to which these pollutants accumulate and transfer through food webs, or ...

Principal investigator: Dr. Francis Juanes, University of Victoria

Many emerging and legacy contaminants intermingle in aquatic habitats, and evidence of their toxicity to aquatic life continues to mount. Microplastics and other contaminants including flame retardants (FRs) and perfluoroalkylated substances (e.g. PFAS including PFOS) are increasingly reported in aquatic habitats and biota in Canada.

Principal investigator: Dr. Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto

Principal Co-investigator: Miriam Diamond, University of Toronto

Eight million tonnes a year or a garbage truck full every minute—that’s how much plastic ends up in the oceans each year according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Fragments of larger plastic debris and manufactured micro-sized plastics are widespread in freshwater and marine environments.

Principal investigator: Dr. Nathalie Tufenkji, McGill University

Shipments of crude oil and other substances in Canada’s coastal waters are expected to increase significantly over the coming years given the proposed increases in tanker exports of diluted bitumen (dilbit) and crude oil to overseas markets. This also increases the potential for a marine spill and related risks to ocean life.

Principal investigator: Dr. Chris Kennedy, Simon Fraser University

In July 2016, a buried pipeline near Maidstone, Saskatchewan, ruptured and spilled approximately 250,000 litres of diluted bitumen (dilbit), with much of it ending up in the North Saskatchewan River. Since there is little known about the impacts of dilbit exposure on freshwater organisms ...

Principal investigator: Dr. Timothy Jardine, University of Saskatchewan

As the volume of petroleum products transported by pipeline and ocean-going tankers increases, so does the risk of oil spills. Three recent spills in British Columbia involving different types of petroleum products highlight the need to learn more about how oil spills affect marine life in cold coastal waters.

Principal investigator: Dr. Caren Helbing, University of Victoria

Much remains to be understood about the toxicity of diluted bitumen to aquatic species. Bitumen is a black, viscous mixture of hydrocarbons that is commonly used as a binder in asphalt. Diluted bitumen (dilbit) is bitumen blended with one or more lighter petroleum products (diluent) to reduce its viscosity to make it easier to ...

Principal investigator: Dr. Patrice Couture, INRS-ETE (Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement)

Considerable research has examined the behaviour of oil spills in marine environments; however there is little information about the potential impacts of a spill on freshwater lakes, as well as the recovery rates in the aquatic environment. To address this knowledge gap, the National Contaminants Advisory Group (NCAG) is funding research into ...

Principal investigator: Dr. Valérie Langlois, Institut national de la recherche scientifique Centre - Eau Terre Environnement (QC)

Principal Co-investigator: Dr. Vince Palace, IISD - Experimental Lakes Area Inc. (MB)

Pipelines carrying diluted bitumen (dilbit) from the Alberta oil sands cross watersheds that are critical habitat for many freshwater fish, and as the volume of dilbit being moved increases, so does the risk of a spill. Crude oils are highly toxic to aquatic organisms.

Principal investigator: Dr. Todd Gillis, University of Guelph

Due to long-range atmospheric and marine transport, agricultural pesticides used in the temperate regions of the world may have contaminated Arctic Waters. In temperate waters, pesticides impair the physiology and growth of both phytoplankton and zooplankton.

Principal investigator: Dr. Philippe Juneau, Université du Québec à Montréal

In recent years, the aquaculture industry has become a major contributor to the Canadian economy and is of particular importance to coastal communities on the east and west coasts. As with other salmon producing countries around the world, Canada’s salmon aquaculture industry ...

Principal investigator: Dr. Chris Kennedy, Simon Fraser University

The proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline project is anticipated to increase tanker traffic and correspondingly the risk of oil spills in Vancouver Harbour and the Salish Sea—an intricate network of coastal waterways encompassing the Strait of Georgia ...

Principal investigator: Dr. Haibo Niu, Dalhousie University

The lobster fishery contributes more than $2.1 billion annually to the economies of hundreds of communities in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. In Atlantic Canada, communities that rely on the American Lobster fishery also benefit economically from the growing salmon aquaculture industry, which is currently valued at $147 million a year.

Principal investigator: Dr. K. Fraser Clark, Mount Allison University

The Copper Redhorse (Moxostoma hubbsi) is an endangered fish that is only found in the St. Lawrence River and its main tributaries in southern Quebec. According to recent estimates, the population consists of about 2,000 mature individuals.

Principal investigators:
Dr. Jessica Head, McGill University
Dr. Benjamin Barst, McGill University

The continued expansion of oil and gas development and transport in Canadian waters increases the risk of spills and potential impacts on aquatic ecosystems and organisms from both routine operations and accidental releases.

Principal investigators:
Dr. Michel C. Boufadel

The use of approved drugs and pesticides is necessary within the Canadian aquaculture industry in order to reduce or eliminate pests and disease. To protect human health and the environment, these products, termed collectively as chemotherapeutants, are regulated by Health Canada under the Pest Control Products Act and its regulations.

Principal investigators:
Jason Bernier (Lead)
Carrie Bentley

Sea lice (predominantly Lepeophtheirus salmonis) are large ectoparasitic copepods having a pan-global distribution and found on salmonid fishes in marine waters. These host-specific parasites are very pathogenic to salmonid species (e.g., Atlantic salmon), especially populations in cage culture where the stocking density is unnaturally high.

Principal investigators:
Jason Bernier (Lead)
Chris Bridger
Dr. Dounia Daoud

Salmosan® (active ingredient: azamethiphos) is one of two pesticides currently permitted for use as a bath treatment to control sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Atlantic Canada. The release of pesticides from fish farms has raised concern regarding the potential for indigenous, non-target species to be affected.

Principal investigators:
Jason Bernier (Lead)
Dr. Dounia Daoud

A common approach to control infestations of sea lice on farmed Atlantic salmon involves the use of in-feed pharmaceutical products, such as emamectin benzoate and ivermectin, both of which persist in marine sediments. The effects of these products on non-target species such as the American lobster (Homarus americanus) has been studied in the past but not associated with lethal and sub-lethal effects from dosed sediment on which the juvenile lobsters live.

Principal investigators:
Jason Bernier (Lead)
Chris Bridger
Dr. Dounia Daoud

Salmosan® (active ingredient: azamethiphos) is one of two pesticides currently permitted for use as a bath treatment to control sea lice in farmed salmon in Atlantic Canada. The release of pesticides from fish farms has raised concern regarding the potential for indigenous, non-target species to be exposed.

Principal investigators:
Jason Bernier (Lead)
Dr. Dounia Daoud

The transport of diluted bitumen (dilbit) often traverses watersheds that are critical habitat for many freshwater fish, including Pacific salmon. Salmon are of considerable socioeconomic value to all Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. However, the impacts of a potential oil transfer leak or failure are not well understood, given knowledge gaps on the consequences of dilbit exposure to early life stages of salmon. The extent to which biotic (e.g. species) and abiotic (e.g. temperature) factors influence adverse outcomes of dilbit exposure, including sublethal effects (e.g. endocrine disruption), are largely unknown. Supported under Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan, this project addresses these knowledge gaps, and provides necessary data on species sensitivities and recoveries, temperature-dependent toxicity, and ecologically-relevant physiological effects that will be generally useful for oil spill modeling, and specifically relevant for risk assessments and spill response activities (ex. biological sampling and spill remediation) in salmon-bearing Canadian waterways.

Principal investigators:
Dr. Todd Gillis
Dr. Sarah Alderman

A project to measure the levels of contaminants in southern resident killer whales and evaluate related health effects.

Principal investigator:
Dr Marie Noël, Ocean Wise

National Capital Region

Research will occur in Pacific region.

This study examines the biological effects of microplastics on sea scallops. The research will provide data on the impact of microplastics on marine fisheries and shellfish aquaculture.

Principal investigator:
Dr. Youssouf Soubaneh, Université du Québec à Rimouski

National Capital Region

Research will occur in Québec region.

A project to characterize the effects of exposure to an antipsychotic pharmaceutical on several aquatic species and communities by undertaking a series of experiments that use ecosystem-based enclosures.

Principal investigator:
Dr. José Luis Rodríguez Gil, IISD-Experimental Lakes Area

National Capital Region

Research will occur in Ontario and Prairies region

A study to integrate a fate and effects model, lab studies and field assessments to examine how anti-depressants (including metabolites and various chemical forms) move in the environment, bioaccumulate in fish and cause changes in key biological processes.

Principal investigator:
Dr. Mark Servos, University of Waterloo

National Capital Region

Research will occur in Ontario and Prairies region.

This project seeks to test the ecological impacts of microplastics on fish and their associated food web in a series of experiments using ecosystem-based enclosures.

Principal investigator:
Dr. Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto

National Capital Region

Research will occur in Ontario and Prairies region.

A project to study microplastics in the Salish Sea and examine the thresholds for negative impacts of microplastic textile fibres in the food web.

Principal investigator:
Dr. Anna Posaka, Ocean Wise

National Capital Region

Research will occur in Pacific region.

A study to assess how small micro- and nanoplastics end up in Canadian aquatic environments and how their properties affect travel into and within the body of organisms potentially resulting in health effects.

Principal investigator:
Dr. Nathalie Tufenkji, McGill University

National Capital Region

Research will occur in Québec region.