That substance in the water of Great Slave Lake is likely just ash, says DFO

A substance spotted in the water of Great Slave Lake on Thursday is likely "a collection of ash," said Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

An "unknown, black substance" near Mosher Island was reported to the Canadian Coast Guard's Arctic Region Marine Environmental and Hazards Response (MEHR) team Thursday morning. 

MEHR collected samples and submitted them for testing.

Based on the evidence, they've confirmed that the curvy black line in the water is ash, likely from a burn barrel "or something of that nature," wrote Jeremy Hennessy, a public affairs officer for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in an email.
 
Brian Fidler lives next to Yellowknife Bay and noticed the streak in the water when he was looking out his window. Fidler has lived in Yellowknife for almost five years and said he's never seen anything like it before. 

"It was a beautiful morning. The water was flat, calm," he said. "I noticed the boats in the little bay there and this weird line that came out seemed to trail from the Yellowknife River direction and kind of curl around." 

Fidler said it looked like the substance was floating towards Jolliffe Island. 

While the substance didn't give off the "rainbow kind of fuel" that oil spills are typically characterized with, Fidler said he was still concerned because he didn't know what the slick was. 

"If more is gonna be coming out into the lake, I don't want to see that. I don't wanna put my boat through it," he said. "If it is chemical or petroleum based, it's not good for the environment. It's not good for our lake."

An on-water assessment by MEHR indicated that the substance is not oil-based. There are no impacts to Yellowknife's drinking water and it "is not believed to pose any danger to the public or to wildlife in the area," Hennessy wrote.