Environmental scientists will be trying to determine whether American eels — the slimy, snake-like fish considered worldwide to be a food delicacy — are dying from chemical pollution in Lake Ontario. Declared a “species of concern” under Canada’s new Species at Risk Act, American eels have until recently supported a multi-million-dollar historic fishery in Ontario and an even larger industry in Quebec. But with rapidly decreasing numbers of eels, the Ontario fishery has been closed and the Quebec fishery is in serious decline.