Fuel slick off Labrador coast has residents fearing for food stocks

A fuel slick off the coast of Labradorhas officials scrambling to determine its cause and plan for a cleanup operation, as nearby residents fear for the safety of ocean wildlife commonly usedfor food.

Lela Evans, Torngat Mountains MHA, said it was an acrid smell that alerted the community to the large sheen in the Postville harbour Monday afternoon.

Residents described a thick odour of diesel hanging over the community.

"They had to close their windows," Evans said. "It is a huge concern."

Lavern Broomfield lives right on the shore, and said he was hit with diesel fumes the second he opened his front door Monday morning. Out on the water, "you could see oily patches," he said.

An entire food chain that is important to Inuit survival has been poisoned- Jermaine Manning

A plane surveyed the spill and estimated it spans about 13 square kilometres, said Postville AngajukKkGlenn Sheppard.

"That's not 23 litres of fuel. That's not 46 litres of fuel. That's a considerable amount of fuel that has been spilled or wasted from some source [that] right now is unknown," Sheppard said.

"Fuel doesn't [appear] inwater from just out of mid-air. It doesn't happen that way. It doesn't come out of thawing or melting ice. It has to come from a source, and that source will be found out."

A tanker operated by Woodward Group docked in Postville over the weekend.

CEO Peter Woodward told CBC News the tanker's crew had investigated the vessel, and reported that thefuel was used motor oil that ended up in the harbour through sewage drains and did not come from the tanker.

Makkovikresident Jermaine Manning, who has family in Postville, says she's frustrated that the company placed blame on the community.

"This was the only tanker in the area yet this year," she said.

Manning also expressed dismay at the potential harm to sea life.

"An entire food chain that is important to Inuit survival has been poisoned," she said. "You even have people from other communities travel to this region because it's so rich."

Wildlife concerns

Sheppard said the slick haspolluted anarea crucial to localwildlife stocks.

"This is right in the midst of our food source where our char, our birds migrate," he said.

Evans raised fears overthe spill leaking into surrounding areas and affecting capelin, trout and whales and poisoning nesting birds and their young.

The Canadian Coast Guard's environmental response team has been dispatchedto determine a clean-up planand the effects on wildlife.

A spokesperson said a surveillance flight Monday observed 2,000 to 3,000 litres of "pollutant" on the water's surface.

By Tuesday, remaining visible amounts had dropped to 980 litres.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador