Abstract

Bioindicators or health effect indicators have the potential to identify adverse health conditions in fish in advance of effects on populations. A commercially valuable species, American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides), was chosen by the oil industry in consultation with Fisheries and Oceans Canada as an important species for Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) programs on the Grand Banks. We report here on fish health studies carried out at the Terra Nova Offshore Oil Development site before and after discharge of produced water, which began in 2003. These studies constitute one component of the overall Terra Nova EEM program. Fish were collected in the near vicinity of the Terra Nova Development site as well at a Reference site located approximately 20 km southeast of the development. Approximately 500 fish were studied in total over 5 survey years from 2000 to 2006. The health effect indicators studied included fish condition, visible skin and organ lesions, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity, haematology (differential cell counts) and a variety of histopathological indices in liver (e.g. nuclear pleomorphism, megalocytic hepatosis, foci of cellular alteration, macrophage aggregation, neoplasms) and gill (e.g. epithelial lifting, oedema, fusion and aneurysms). Although a slight elevation of EROD activity was observed in fish from the Development site in 2002, before discharge of produced water, and in 2006, the suite of other health bioindicators were found to be generally absent or similar between the Development and Reference sites. Overall, on the basis of the various indicators studied, the results support the hypothesis of no significant project effects on the health of American plaice.

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