Fish Toxicology, Oil Sands Region

Oil Sands Sediment Exposures of Embryo-larval Fathead Minnows



Dataset contains laboratory-studied fathead minnow egg and larval survival rates when exposed to sediments collected from 18 sites in the Athabasca watershed (2010-2014).



A controlled laboratory study examined the impacts on fathead minnow eggs and larval development when exposed to collected sediments at concentrations of 1, 5 and/or 25 g/L. Sediments and water were renewed daily, and eggs were assessed as they hatched (in about 5 days), and as the larval fish grew to 8-9 days post hatch (dph), and 15-16 dph. The data in the file present the mean survival (and standard deviation). Two sediment sites caused decreased survival of fathead minnow fry: The Ells River lower site, and the Steepbank River Lower site. These data show that sediment from these sites can affect larval fish survival in the lab. The next steps are to compare these findings to the health data from wild fish collected from these same tributary sites.



Toxicity Testing of Groundwater near the Oil Sands Development



Dataset contains toxicity studies of groundwaters collected near the Athabasca and Ells rivers. Groundwaters were collected in the summer of 2013 from 4 sites below the riverbeds at depths of 0.5 to 1 metre. Sites were chosen to represent groundwaters close to oil sands tailings ponds and further from tailings ponds and mining activities.



Under controlled laboratory conditions, fathead minnow eggs were exposed for 5 days (until hatch) to the groundwaters at standard dilution concentrations of 6, 12, 25, 50, and 100% of the groundwater sample to compare egg and larval fish survival. The data presents the average survival until hatch of 3 repeated exposures (and standard deviation) and 9 repeated exposures for controls.



Some groundwater is toxic to minnows and some is not. No correlations were found between toxicity and proximity to a tailings pond.



Assessing Toxicity of Oil Sands Related Substances



Laboratory fish were exposed to melted snow from sites located close to oil sands mining and upgrading facilities and from sites far away from mining activities to assess the toxicity of substances found in the snow. In addition, river waters, bed sediments, suspended sediments, groundwater and atmospheric depositional samples (pre-melt snow collections) were also tested for toxicity.



Fish exposed to undiluted snowmelt showed biological effects. Fish exposed to river water from the region collected during snowmelt conditions showed no effects.

Basic view

Metadata Record Information

File Identifier
e831813c-a28c-4b2e-a6e9-7d3316532e27 XML
Date Stamp
2022-06-28T18:54:26
Metadata language

eng; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy Level
Dataset
Author
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Environment and Climate Change Canada ( Public inquiries centre)

Fontaine Building 12th floor, 200 Sacré-Coeur Blvd, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0H3,
1-800-668-6767

http://ec.gc.ca
 

Data identification

Title

Fish Toxicology, Oil Sands Region
Date (Publication)
2014-02-07
Date (Creation)
2014-01-24
Date (Revision)
2016-07-04
Status
On going
Metadata language

eng; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Environment
Maintenance and Update Frequency
As needed
Spatial representation type
Text, table
Principal investigator
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Joanne Parrott ( Research Scientist, Aquatic Contaminants Research Division)

867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, Ontario, L7S 1A1, Canada
905-336-4551

905-336-6430

Keywords

Theme

  • oil sands, monitoring, fish health, levels and trends, cumulative effects, environmental monitoring, Prairie and Northern Region - Alberta, observation / measurement, Prairie and Northern - Northwest Territories, fathead minnows, fathead minnow eggs, fathead minnow larvae, contaminants, survival, sediment, groundwater, melted snow, freshet

  • Observation/Measurement

Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

  • Oil sands

  • Fish

ECCC Information Category EN

  • Water - Quality

Business Functions

  • Assess Toxicity, Manage and Monitor for Environmental Presence of Hazardous Substances and Waste

  • Monitor / Assess Substance and Waste Levels in Air, Water, Soil, Biota

Geography

  • Prairie - Alberta (AB)

  • Water - Drainage regions - Peace–Athabasca

external.theme.EC_Branch

  • Science and Technology Branch

external.theme.EC_Directorate

  • Water Science and Technology

external.theme.EC_Program_PAA

  • 1.3.2. Ecosystem Assessment and Approaches

external.theme.GC_Security_Level

  • Unclassified
 
Use Limitation

Open Government Licence - Canada ( http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)

Access Constraints
License
Use Constraints
License
Begin Date
2011-01-01

Extent

N
S
E
W
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Ref. system Reference Systems

Reference system identifier
EPSG / EPSG:4326 /
 

Distribution

Distributor
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Environment and Climate Change Canada ( Public inquiries centre)

Fontaine Building 12th floor, 200 Sacré-Coeur Blvd, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0H3,
1-800-668-6767

http://ec.gc.ca
 
 

Overviews

N
S
E
W
thumbnail




Keywords

Observation/Measurement oil sands, monitoring, fish health, levels and trends, cumulative effects, environmental monitoring, Prairie and Northern Region - Alberta, observation / measurement, Prairie and Northern - Northwest Territories, fathead minnows, fathead minnow eggs, fathead minnow larvae, contaminants, survival, sediment, groundwater, melted snow, freshet
Business Functions

Assess Toxicity, Manage and Monitor for Environmental Presence of Hazardous Substances and Waste Monitor / Assess Substance and Waste Levels in Air, Water, Soil, Biota
ECCC Information Category EN

Water - Quality
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

Fish Oil sands
external.theme.EC_Branch

Science and Technology Branch
external.theme.EC_Directorate

Water Science and Technology
external.theme.EC_Program_PAA

1.3.2. Ecosystem Assessment and Approaches
external.theme.GC_Security_Level

Unclassified


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