Report on post deposit monitoring approaches for measuring environmental concentrations and effects of drugs and pesticides used in the Canadian aquaculture industry

Description

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^{Footnote 1}, are regulated by Health Canada under the Pest Control Products Act and its regulations. Although scientific assessments and risk management strategies are implemented to ensure the safe use of these chemotherapeutants, there is interest in better understanding any possible effects chemotherapeutants may have on non-target organisms when used according to product labels. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is responsible for ensuring that aquaculture related activities are safe for non-target fish and their habitats which includes the use of chemotherapeutants by the salmon aquaculture industry.

To review and inform monitoring considerations related to the use of chemotherapeutants, a scoping exercise was undertaken to identify a range of post deposit environmental monitoring approaches designed to measure environmental concentrations and biological effects of chemotherapeutants used in the Canadian salmon aquaculture industry. A final report will be available through the DFO website in 2018/19.

Program Name

National Contaminants Advisory Group (NCAG)

Year(s)

2017 - 2019

Ecoregion(s)

National

Principal Investigator(s)

Jason Bernier (Lead)
Manager, Environment and Planning
CBCL Limited

Carrie Bentley
Senior Environmental Scientist
CBCL Limited