Given the importance of the Fraser River, and the environmental disasters listed above and their effects, it is time to implement cumulative effects monitoring and analysis to understand, restore and safeguard the health of the River into the future. [...] The last meaningful assessment of the “State of the Fraser River” was conducted over 30 years ago.36 As outlined in the 2011 report, the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon, there has been “no comprehensive assessment of aquatic environmental quality on the Fraser River.”37 Much has changed over the subsequent three decades of development, mining, climate change, and hum. [...] The original “State of the Fraser” report found a “decline in the abundance of natural resources and quality of the environment since historical times, that is, approximately the last 100 years” and that the Basin in particular was “experiencing declining environmental quality and increasing stress on the environment.”38 That study identified the dominant sources of pollution in the Lower Fraser R. [...] Salmon may be immediately affected at the mouth of the Fraser, potentially predisposing them to further harms.50 The tidal conditions in the Lower Fraser River accentuate this effect by retaining the effluent at the mouth of the River and potentially exposing millions of juvenile salmon to pollutants during periods of migration.51 Third, Metro Vancouver has the most robust monitoring and reporting. [...] MINE EFFLUENT 3.1 INTRODUCTION Mine effluent111 discharged into the Fraser River watershed risks the health of fish and aquatic ecosystems,112 as well as risks infringement of Indigenous rights.113 This part of the report focuses on the permitted effluent discharge from the major metal mines located within the Fraser River watershed to highlight the significant volume of waste already permitted by.
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- Canada