Pollutants Affecting Whales and their Prey Inventory Tool (PAWPIT)
As part of the Government of Canada’s Whales Initiative, Environment and Climate Change Canada is taking actions to reduce the threat of contaminants to Southern Resident Killer Whales. ECCC has developed an online inventory of pollutants affecting whales and their prey, accessed using an interactive mapping tool.
The Pollutants Affecting Whales and their Prey Inventory Tool (PAWPIT) shows estimates of pollutant releases by all identified sources within the habitats of Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales and their primary prey, Chinook salmon. PAWPIT also displays estimated ambient contaminant loads in the Fraser River Basin, and indicates where environmental quality guidelines were exceeded. The tool allows users to visualize pollutant hotspots and identify where releases are highest, as well as filter the data by location, region, source-type, or pollutant-type.
PAWPIT uses environmental monitoring data collected and reported by various sources, including different levels of government (federal, provincial, regional, municipal). The majority of this data is publically available. While the database is geospatially allocated by source and by contaminant, releases are estimates based on available data in order to represent pollutant contributions per sector or type of activity, and is not intended to be a representation of the contaminants each facility/operation/site is actually producing.
PAWPIT is accessible using all browsers except Microsoft Internet Explorer. For more information, contact us at: baleines-contaminants-whales@ec.gc.ca
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