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> Copyright 1998 Palm Beach Newspaper, Inc.

The Palm Beach Post

April 23, 1998, Thursday, MARTIN-ST. LUCIE EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL, Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 774 words

HEADLINE: PACE FRENETIC AT TEMPORARY SICK-FISH OFFICE

BYLINE: Sally D. Swartz, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: JENSEN BEACH

BODY:

Ann Forstchen, a biologist and fish health expert, is finding herself in a new role.

''I'm now the Answer Grape,'' Forstchen joked Wednesday as she juggled visitors and phone calls at the Department of Environmental Protection's tiny trailer next to the Snook Nook bait shop.

''I guess I'm going to learn everything about DEP too, because people have a lot of questions for everyone in our organization.''

Business was steady on the DEP headquarter's third day in town. By 2 p.m. Wednesday, Forstchen had collected a pompano, a jack and two mullet with lesions, fielded a dozen phone calls and answered questions ranging from who takes reports on businesses polluting the rivers to whether she's related >to the St. Augustine Forstchens.

Forstchen, from DEP's Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg, paused to show a sports magazine photographer where the frozen sick fish are kept.

She returned to tell a caller how many sick fish were counted in the >samples scientists netted this week. Monday, seven of 3,400 netted had confirmed >lesions and 40 were questionable, she said. Tuesday, eight of 2,000 had lesions and 13 were questionable.

Some of the fish were express-mailed to Texas A&M University to be >tested for pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals. Others were shipped to St. Petersburg labs.

Several callers wanted to know what's happening on Florida's west coast, where fresh water from overflowing Lake Okeechobee is pouring into the Caloosahatchee River, as it has into the St. Lucie and Indian rivers the past two months.

She told them three mullet and five jacks have been reported with problems, but scientists so far haven't found Cryptoperidiniopsis, the toxic microscopic algae found in local waters, on the west coast. The fish diseases also are different, Forstchen said.

Some who stop by are angry about the sick fish and dirty water here. Others are worried about getting sick. But most, Forstchen said, are frustrated.

The office will be staffed from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily until the fish disease problems are resolved. The phone number is 225-9114.

Questions, answers about sick fish

Fifteen officials from a dozen state and federal agencies appeared >Tuesday at a meeting on sick-fish problems. Here are answers to some of the common questions:

Q. What's safe and what isn't regarding the fish and the rivers?

A. Don't eat sick fish and minimize contact with water where you see sick fish. Wash your hands with soap and water after you handle a sick fish. If you have health problems as a result of being near the fish or water, call the Martin County Health Department at 221-4037. No one has reported any >problems so far.

Q. If we get another tropical storm, will the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District increase the releases of fresh >water from Lake Okeechobee again?

A. Yes. The lake can't be allowed to get too high with hurricane season coming, or the dike surrounding it could break, flooding South Florida and threatening lives.

Q. Have any sick fish been found in Lake Okeechobee? Has >Cryptoperidiniopsis, the toxic micro-algae believed related to the fish lesions, been found?

A. Yes and no, not yet. Some fish with lesions have been reported in the lake. Biologists have no reason to believe Crypto is present, but tests of >water and sediment samples are being made.

Q. Could marine life harbor Crypto undetected?

A. Scientists don't know. Crypto can be detected in sediment and in water. Biologists are still trying to determine the connection with lesions. They believe Crypto may release a mild toxin that breaches the fish's slime >layer and allows bacteria and fungi to attack.

Q. Has Pfiesteria, which is similar to Crypto, been found in the St. >Lucie

and Indian rivers?

A. No, it has not been found anywhere in Florida.

Q. What are the symptoms of Pfiesteria?

A. Lesions and neurological problems such as memory loss, tremors, short memory and tingling of the lips have been reported.

Q. Why isn't more water from Lake Okeechobee being moved south?

A. The South Florida Water Management District says the district doesn't >have the capacity to move large quantities of water south easily. Some areas are full. The endangered Cape Sable sparrow was a problem because the district was prohibited by the federal government from flooding its nesting area.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says there are other options and that the ''adversity'' (of too much water from Lake Okeechobee) should have been shared by putting water in the Everglades agricultural area.

Sally D. Swartz

NOTES:

Info box at end of text.

COMPANY: TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY (51%);

LOAD-DATE: April 24, 1998