Northern Pulp are proposing to pump 55,000,000 litres PER DAY of toxic bleach kraft pulp mill effluent into the very shallow Pictou Harbour. Federal scientists have studied this harbour over the years and have determined that it is not a good choice for Pulp Mill effluent due to its poor flushing capabilites, ice scouring, sedmient compostion and it is home to many marine species.
Some of these marine species include wild Atlantic Salmon that are considered speices of concern by the Federal Government. Striped Bass, sea run Trout, Smelt, Mackerel, Herring, Gasperaux just to name a few.
The impacts of Pulp Mill effluent on marine species has also been studied in depth and the findings are very concerning. Read below for an excerpt from the following research paper : http://rem-main.rem.sfu.ca/papers/gobas/Fish_Physiology.pdf
Pulp and paper mill effluents cause reproductive effects in fish (reviewed by Parrott et al., 2006 and Hewitt et al., 2006). Such effects were possibly masked by the historical direct lethality to fish caused by dioxins and furans; these effects have largely been eliminated over the last decade with improvements to mill treatment processes to reduce or eliminate these toxic compounds. Natural, wood-derived compounds remain that cause reproductive effects in fish (Hewitt et al., 2006), now attributed mainly to phytosterols and resin acids. However, effluents are complex mixtures, which make definitive cause-and-effect relationships difficult to establish.
Even though effluent composition varies from mill to mill, similar effects are found in fish regardless of mill process technology or operation, or differences in wood finish (Hewitt et al., 2006). These effects include vitellogenin (VTG) induction, depression of plasma sex steroids concentrations, changes in sexual development, and decreases/delays in the expression of secondary sex characteristics, demasculinization of male fish, masculinization of female fish, and feminization of male fish, among others (Parrott et al., 2006; Hewitt et al., 2006).
The focus in this section is on the feminization of fish. Pulp and paper mill effluents feminize fish. Parrott et al. (2003, 2004) found increased female to male sex ratios in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) and showed that juveniles and males produced ovipositors (female-specific egg-laying organs) when exposed to bleached sulfite mill effluent. In a study with bleached Kraft mill effluent-exposed Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) fry, Afonso et al. (2002) reported partially and completely feminized genetic males, containing phenotypic ovaries, intersex testis, or underdeveloped testis.
Whole-body zebrafish (Danio rerio) VTG concentrations were approximately 26-fold higher in fish exposed to 50% pulp and paper mill effluent when compared to controls (Orn et al., 2001). In a Chilean study, Orrego et al. (2006) placed caged juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) upstream, downstream, and in an area of the river directly impacted by a pulp and paper mill discharge. They found that exposed trout had increased gonadal somatic index (GSI) and plasma VTG levels combined with an induction of gonad maturation (deduced by the presence of vitellogenic oocytes).