SQUAMISH -- Outfitters are fearing the worst as piles of dead fish mount on the banks of the Cheakamus River.

"We are back on the water but it is not all happy smiles, because there are fish carcasses on the side of the river," Evan Phillips of Canadian Outback Adventures said yesterday. "As a guide, it's not fun to explain what happened."

About 41,000 litres of highly corrosive caustic soda spilled into the river in Cheakamus Canyon, about 30 kilometres north of Squamish, when a CN Rail train derailed on Friday night. The chemical spiked the river's pH to levels fatal to fish, killing every species in the river-- chinook, coho, steelhead dolly varden and lamprey eels.

The spill forced raft companies to cancel all trips on Saturday. Phillips said yesterday there had been no walk-in traffic, which is normally about 15 per cent of his business.

Jason Klimock of Whistler Fly Fishing is bracing for the effects of the chemical spill on fishing this winter.

"Over two generations of fish were killed by the spill, particularly the pink salmon," he said. "Some other species haven't spawned yet but food sources such as bugs were depleted. A lot of guiding companies will suffer because there are simply way less fish."

The water was given a clean bill of health yesterday, but Eric Ridington of Whistler Whitewater Co. was waiting for official notification before returning to the river.

"I have a lot of questions," Ridington said. "I want to know what measures have been taken to deal with this mess."

He suggested more water could be let out of the Daisy Lake dam to flush the Cheakamus.

Lance Sundquist of the Environment Ministry said the cleanup is a daunting task.

Not all fish carcasses will be removed, only those near recreational or residential areas.

"We don't anticipate removing every dead fish carcass from the river," he said. "We are monitoring large accumulations of fish that could be attractants to bears, whose presence could cause conflict with humans."

Another 10,000 litres of caustic soda remain in the tanker that split open when the 144-car train derailed, sending nine cars into the canyon.

CN's Graham Dallas said the caustic soda will be cooled to a solid state with dry ice before the tanker is removed, which could take until Friday.

"We will be giving the community a 24-hour notification prior to the removal of the tankers, although we do not expect any problems," Dallas said.

The derailment is under investigation by government departments, including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

© The Vancouver Province 2005