Copyright 1998 Stuart News Company
The Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News (Stuart,FL)
May 16, 1998, Saturday
SECTION: Local; Pg. B1
LENGTH: 312 words
HEADLINE: EXPERTS: DATA FROM RIVERS OK
BYLINE: Andrew Conte of the News staff
BODY:
Troubled Waters
Water samples from the St. Lucie Estuary show nothing unusual,
environmental officials said. Data from rivers OK, experts say
PORT ST. LUCIE - Water collected from the St. Lucie Estuary
Monday had a few trace pesticides and metals but little to cause
concern, state environmental officials said Friday.
Water samples contained traces of the metals copper, lead and
chromium and traces of the pesticides atrazine and arsenic, said
Doug Strom, environmental expert at the state Department of Environmental
Protection.
"These are typical of any water body that gets runoff,
and the levels seem fairly low," Strom said. "There
doesn't appear to be any real smoking gun here."
The tests were conducted as part of the state's investigation
into thousands of sick fish in the estuary that have developed
lesions and open sores since early March.
Ann Forstchen, a DEP biologist in St. Petersburg, reviewed
the test results and confirmed that nothing seemed out of the
ordinary.
"There's really no new news here," she said.
State biologists spent Monday through Wednesday sampling fish
in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon to determine what
percentage of them have the lesions.
They found five lesioned fish Monday and two Tuesday but have
not said how many were caught Wednesday.
Anglers have brought 12 fish to the DEP's temporary command
post in Jensen Beach since Monday, bringing the total for May
to 19.
State biologists have speculated that the immediate sick-fish
problem may be over, although the long-term circumstances that
caused it will remain. Scientists still do not know the exact
cause, but they think it might be connected to a microorganism
called Cryptoperidiniopsis.
This week's water quality tests do not support any theory that
pesticides or metals in the water or sediment were to blame.
LOAD-DATE: May 18, 1998