Dear editor,
After reading the comments made by Quatsino First Nation chief Tom Nelson and his councillors about the condition of Quatsino Sound and its inlets, I felt the need to say something as they hit a nerve.
In 1967, the Yreka mine stopped operating. In 1995, the BHP copper mine stopped operating. All the time that the mines and the pulp mill were operating, First Nations people, along with a lot of other people were harvesting and eating a variety of seafood caught in the area of concern. What he’s telling us is that the fish farms operating in the area of concern were raising fish in polluted waters.
Starting in 2016, a year after the pulp mill stopped operating in Neurotsos Inlet, local residents noticed how clean the water was. Barnacles and seagrass were growing in places they never did while the mill was operating. Logs in the water were home to Toredos again. The whales were going all the way to the head of the inlet, past the pulp mill site. While the mill was in operation, they would not enter the area past the Frigon Islands.
As for Rupert Inlet, most of the people familiar with the area know that the inlet is a little narrower at the mine site due to the amount of overburden dumped there, but that doesn’t appear to have had a negative affect on the marine life. Local First Nations, along with a lot of other people, including commercials boats, are still prawning and crabbing in Rupert Inlet.
In my opinion, the lack of crabs being in the inlet in water less than two hundred feet is due to the amount of otters there, not mine tailings. In the few years since the pulp mill stopped operating, I believe Quatsino Sound and all its inlets have flushed themselves out and their waters are cleaner than ever. Marine life is thriving, and lots of people, including the First Nations, are out harvesting and eating locally caught seafood.
Loren J. Scarff,
Port Alice
