Learn more about how dams affect fish populations through this short video! 🐟
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Photo by Linda Heron
Category Archives: Aquatic Life
Learn about the extraordinary American Eel!
It’s a lizard, It’s a snake, It’s one of the most unique fishes in the world: the American Eel!
Known for their elongated bodies and short fins, these fish which were once very common in North American waterbodies, are now endangered. This is largely due to the presence of hydroelectric dams, which block their natural migration routes, making them unable to reach their breeding grounds in the ocean.
Learn more about their impressive migrations, extraordinary life cycle, and current conservation efforts through this short video.
ORA’s first Youth Engagement event!
ORA collaborated with Engineers Without Borders (UW Chapter) to host a youth engagement workshop for 35 grade 11 students in St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School on March 31st. The group included students from the STEM Club and from the Environment Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) Red Seal Program. ORA offered the students a Sector-Partnered Experience (SPE) focusing on real-world environmental issues to be solved. Continue reading
Embro Dam Class Environmental Assessment – Alternatives
There are very few thriving Brook Trout populations left in southern Ontario, and it is especially surprising to find them present as far south as London, Ontario. Brook Trout are a sentinel species – the canary in the coal mine. In southern Ontario, Brook Trout populations have seen an 80% decline in their numbers over the last 50 years. Their populations have been under increasing pressure from a warming climate as well as agricultural, urban, rural and industrial development.
Removing the Dam and headpond to create a free-flowing and healthy coldwater Brook Trout fishery would be the perfect place for a family to go for walk, play or picnic in the Embro Conservation Area. It would provide a healthy riverine ecosystem and a beautiful natural environment for the entire community to enjoy!!
Hydropower is destroying our rivers, biodiversity and fueling Climate Change
Dams and hydropower facilities harm the environment and, when headponds or reservoirs are flooded, can produce carbon dioxide and methane for the life of the dam. Ontario is about to embark on a whole new era of dam building. Ontario has 224 operating hydropower plants and only 3 with fish passage.
By the way, Ontario Power Generation has been selling Clean Energy Credits for hydroelectric since 2013.
NO MORE NEW HYDROELECTRIC DAMS IN ONTARIO!!
Delayed Decision to List American Eel Under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) – Joint
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We are a coalition of Indigenous Peoples and conservation and environmental non-governmental organizations concerned with the conservation of American Eel and write to ask that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans take all necessary steps to immediately list this important species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA).
Mill Creek Weir Removal Project
The ORA is pleased to partner with Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) in the Mill Creek Weir Removal Project. Mill Creek is home to an at-risk population of native Brook Trout, and the weir is a barrier to fish passage and prime habitat. Mill Creek is the lowest dam before its confluence with the Credit River.
The concrete weir is broken and cracked, and if individuals from the Brook Trout population were to breach the weir, they could be permanently trapped in a small pool on the other side, with no way back. Removing the weir will remove this hazard, open up 5 km of uninterrupted Brook Trout habitat, and increase Mill Creek’s resilience to a warming climate. The ORA applied for and received a $5,000 Lush grant towards the new detailed channel design. Continue reading
Environmental Compliance Approval Number 7877-CALRZU – Erin Water Resource Recovery Facility – Joint
Photo by Steven Noakes
First, the Coalition for the West Credit River (Coalition) would like to express our deepest appreciation that you and your staff worked with our Technical Team over the last several months to incorporate some of our recommendations into the Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA). However, we are concerned that our key recommendations for improvements to the draft ECA, received by you on 2 May, were not reflected in the ECA approved on 3 May 2022.
Delegation Request – Erin Water Resource Recovery Facility – Joint
Photo by Steven Noakes
The Coalition is very appreciative of your strong support in recommending to the Honourable David Piccini, Minister of Environment, Conservation Parks (MECP) and Mayor Allan Alls, Town of Erin, that our draft Monitoring and Adaptive Management Plan be integrated into the Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA). As you are likely aware, the ECA for the Erin Water Resource Recovery Facility was approved on 3 May 2022 by Aziz Ahmed, P.Eng., MECP Manager of Municipal Water & Wastewater Permissions, appointed for the purposes of Part II.1 of the Environmental Protection Act.
Ending Plastic Pollution – A Call to Action – Joint
Canada has committed to ending plastic waste by 2030.i Reaching this goal will require ambitious actions that address the full life cycle of plastic.
Canada is a major—and growing—producer of plastics and the world’s second highest user of plastic on a per person basis.ii Production, use and disposal of plastics is an increasing contributor to climate change and habitat degradation. It also imposes disproportionate harm on those living next to production and disposal facilities, often low-income and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities.
We, the undersigned, therefore call on the Government of Canada to commit immediately to implement the following actions on an urgent basis: