1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:27,920 There's something dying in our backyard, it's not pretty, scientists are alarmed, we aren't 2 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:33,720 sure what's causing this, not entirely. There's a lot of finger-pointing and a lot of blame. 3 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:41,280 If you're one of the 6.6 million people who live in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, 4 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:48,760 Ontario, or Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, or Minnesota, then you're adding to the problem. 5 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:55,440 Do you flush your toilets? Do you use the dishwasher? Does your family fertilize your 6 00:00:55,440 --> 00:01:06,720 lawn? Then you're having a negative impact on our backyard. The thing that might be dying is Lake 7 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:15,280 Winnipeg. Here's proof that our lake may be dying. These are satellite and aerial images of Lake 8 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:22,040 Winnipeg. What you see are the potentially toxic blue-green algae blooms. But what is feeding these 9 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:30,120 algae blooms? A bit of history. In 1970, Manitoba Hydro started controlling water levels on Lake 10 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:38,160 Winnipeg. And interestingly, algae levels quadrupled between 1970 and 2000. In 1992, 11 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:44,920 massive algae blooms were spotted by fishers in the North Basin. And in 2003, a full survey of 12 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:51,600 the lake was done, the first since 1969, which showed that half of the northern basin of the 13 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:58,560 lake was covered by these possibly toxic algae blooms. We invited a research scientist to our 14 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:06,120 class to explain to us how Lake Winnipeg got sick. Dr. Karen Scott, a microbiologist, has been involved 15 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:12,640 with Lake Winnipeg for many years, both as a sailor and as the outreach coordinator for the 16 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:19,200 Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium. After meeting with Karen, we wanted to see the lake for ourselves. 17 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:25,680 We spent the day on the research consortium's vessel, the Nemeo. There we met with scientists 18 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:30,920 and got to watch them taking lake samples at different research stations in the South Basin. 19 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:36,960 As an added bonus, an Environment Canada weather buoy was set out. This was interesting because 20 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:44,080 they use a GPS system to exactly position it on the lake. They also use GPS to get to their 21 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:49,720 different research stations. Once at a station, they cast out a large trawling net to collect 22 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:55,480 fish samples from the surface. They also take water samples and cast out a small mesh net 23 00:02:55,480 --> 00:03:00,560 to collect zooplankton samples. When the boat comes to a stop, they collect sediment samples 24 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,840 from the lake bottom. Once the samples are collected from each of the different research 25 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:10,120 stations, they are bagged or bottled and taken down to the hold where there is a little lab. 26 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:16,040 Some samples are sent to the freezer for later study and some have to be looked at right away. 27 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:22,320 After the lake bottom was sampled, we had a chance to hold the animals from the sediment, 28 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:28,360 as well as help the scientists sort the fish according to species. We then sat down with Dr. 29 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:34,480 Alex Salke, a well-respected biologist, who helped us understand how the fish and lake interact. 30 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:47,640 The lake is a house of animals, as we said before, with a family of animals. Anytime you affect one 31 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:57,320 of those inhabitants, you affect the whole house. So any change in the system, any additional animal, 32 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:03,440 or any change in the temperature, any change in the quality of water, that will affect the lake. 33 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:09,560 That will affect the house those animals live in. And that's what man is doing regularly. We're 34 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:14,760 changing things like that. We're adding new species. We're changing the habitat that these 35 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:26,200 animals live in. And every time we do that, we affect who can live there. And so the house shape 36 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:32,120 won't change, but the contents of the house can change. And that's our neighborhood in there. So 37 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,120 we want to be sure we can keep the same neighborhood. Dr. Bill Franzine helped us to 38 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:42,120 better understand the aquatic food chain and what a typical lake looks like. Lakes contain fish, 39 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:48,320 zooplankton, which are small animals, different types of algae, and benthos, sediment creatures 40 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:55,280 like clams and insects. Lakes also have nutrients, which all plants and animals need, like nitrogen 41 00:04:55,280 --> 00:05:02,080 and phosphorus. Now, typically, fish eat smaller fish or benthos and zooplankton, while zooplankton 42 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:09,080 eat algae. Algae need three things to survive. Sunlight, carbon dioxide, and nutrients. Lake 43 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:14,800 Winnipeg's problem is that it has too many nutrients, especially phosphorus, which is seeping 44 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:20,080 into the lake from all over the watershed. And this is why the nasty blue-green algae that can 45 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:26,320 be toxic are thriving. They are eating the phosphorus and are able to pull out any additional 46 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:31,760 nitrogen that they may need from the atmosphere. This is something that other types of algae can't 47 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:38,800 do. As a result, the blue-green algae are eating like kings and are creating big blooms and serious 48 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:46,640 problems. Every time you throw something on your yard or put a pesticide on your garden, 49 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:53,040 that's going to Lake Winnipeg. What you're living with right now is the mismanagement 50 00:05:53,040 --> 00:06:00,160 of the last 50 years of chemicals and pesticides. You notice some differences about Lake Winnipeg? 51 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,160 I've noticed huge differences in Lake Winnipeg. When I was a kid, there used to be all these 52 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,240 little clam shells all over the place. There isn't anymore. But in the most recent years, 53 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,960 I've noticed all this algae in the water. It's all over the place. Has that affected 54 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:17,040 any of your fishing? It's had a huge effect on the fishing. First of all, some of this algae is 55 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,960 toxic and it'll actually kill the fish. It'll actually kill you if you eat enough of it, 56 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,440 though I know you're smart enough not to. But it also has a huge impact on, first of all, 57 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:30,000 it'll kill the fish and it chases them around all over the place. It also has an effect on our nets. 58 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,840 We get the algae in our nets and it turns them into blankets and it's very, very difficult to 59 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:38,000 fish with that. And of course, the fish can see in his blanket. The net is now a blanket. The 60 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,760 fish can see it and we don't catch any fish. So then that affects my pocketbook. I don't have as 61 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:49,360 much money, which I really don't like. How do you think we can stop the algae blooms? 62 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:55,840 I think we have to decrease the amount of phosphorus in the lake. That's the main thing. 63 00:06:55,840 --> 00:07:00,960 How do we go about doing that? There's all kinds of techniques you could use. I mean, 64 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,800 people can point their fingers at various things. You can point the fingers at the farmers and 65 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,400 they're putting stuff in their fields and that washes into the water. You can point your finger 66 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:14,880 at the humans. We've had a huge impact. Human effluent, human waste from the city of Winnipeg 67 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:19,200 has had many spills. Gimli itself has had a sewage spill, the raw sewage into the lake. 68 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,760 That's an absolute no-no. We can't allow that to happen. 69 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,320 We asked Bruce what questions he would put to the politicians we plan to interview. 70 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,560 Questions I would put is, what's been done? What are you going to do and when? Give us some 71 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,800 timelines. You've done all this research. All of this has been done. It's actually been done 72 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,080 two or three times. When are you going to actually do something? When are we going to 73 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,760 see some concrete results? Because this is something that I fundamentally believe, 74 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:46,320 that if all the science in the world, all the research and all the talking in the world, 75 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:51,440 we could know exactly what's going on in Winnipeg. If you don't do anything, at the end of the day, 76 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:56,720 we're going to have a really good record of how a lake dies right to its death. We don't want that. 77 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,200 Sometime before that, we want to see some action. If we don't have that action, 78 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:06,800 we will have a nice record of a lake until it dies. I think that you can say, you've been told 79 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:11,280 by a fisherman that all the talk and all the work they've done, all the talk and all the work they 80 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:17,280 haven't done, is less than one guy walking along a riverbank, seeing a cow patty and kicking it 81 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:22,720 back three feet. If you don't do anything, then that's more than all the science and all the 82 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:27,440 research in the world. If you don't do anything, one man kicking a cow patty three feet. 83 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,920 How do you think we can change the health of Lake Winnipeg? 84 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:39,360 Well, we can try to use less phosphorus in our water supplies and try to keep our sewage from 85 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:44,640 going in the lake and all those good things. But, you know, we have a very large agricultural 86 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:50,240 drainage basin and I don't think we're going to stop farming. So all we can do is the best 87 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:55,920 management practices that we can do and try to reverse or at least stall the trend that's been 88 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:03,360 going on. With our watershed being as large as it is, 950,000 square kilometers, there's a lot of 89 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:08,480 blame to share. We can look at the use of fertilizers on farmland and in the city, at the 90 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:15,440 hog industry, at hydroelectric dams, at water treatment plants, at sewage bills, and at our use 91 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:21,360 of chemicals, pesticides, and especially phosphorus. So what can we be doing to help address Lake 92 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:26,720 Winnipeg's poor health? Well, we can restore the shoreline to a more natural state, make sure that 93 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:32,480 septic systems are in good shape, not flush things down the toilets that don't belong, use products 94 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:37,600 that have a low phosphorus content, keep large animals away from shorelines of streams, rivers, 95 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:44,400 and lakes, and not put anything into the watershed that is toxic or may cause shore erosion. We plan 96 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:49,920 to take it one step further. We're going to send our documentary to all levels of government, 97 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:57,920 meet with local politicians, and demand action. We want to clean up our backyard.