Shafts of sunlight poked through the tall cottonwoods below Trinity bridge on the Shuswap River above Enderby.
A family intent on drifting the river, tubing, had just slathered the children with sunscreen. Now they were ready to drift to Enderby Bridge. Unbeknownst to them, the fine film of oxybenzone/ethylparaben/octoinoxate/methylparaben and other chemicals in the product was leaving a fine film on the water surface. Over time it could affect the trout and whitefish feeding on crustaceans and other aquatic insects living in the river.
Fortunately the Shuswap is a large system, deep and strong, compared to the Cowichan River on the Island, where up to 1,000 tubers drift daily during hot weather.
A recent study on the Cowichan has shown that caddis/stonefly/ in the larval stage provide up to 80 per cent of the food for native trout/coho/chinook/smolts in the river. At least four other chemical compounds used as UV sunscreen filters have been found as hormone disrupters that force genetic change in pupae/larvae living in the river.
Related: It’s all about cool, clear water
Chemicals in sunscreens don’t dissolve but float on the surface while others settle to the bottom into sediment.
Solutions: It is hoped that tubers /swimmers will educate themselves about choosing sunscreen that has fewer compounds and wearing beach clothing that blocks UV rays, thus reducing the ecological side effects for aquatic species.
After all, studies show that the tiniest components that are added to sunscreen, to block ultraviolet rays, like titanium oxide/copper oxide/cerium oxide, so tiny it takes one million of them to make up the width of a human hair, can cause great risk to aquatic insects.
Whoever thought that a dab of sunscreen sprayed or lathered on our bodies could cause such disruption of the insect life of a river?
Also, while camping, make sure your campfire is completely extinguished. If you see something suspicious call it in. Twenty nine of the wildfires started in 2017 were arson related. Some folks just don’t get it!
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