Maryland Checking What is Hurting Fish, Fishermen
By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Researchers were working Monday
to learn what triggered a micro-organism that killed thousands
of fish in a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest
estuary that has undergone years of clean-up efforts.
The fish kill -- the first major one in the East Coast
bay since 1989 -- apparently ended Sunday after a five-day run
at the mouth of a Maryland river that killed an estimated 10,000
to 15,000 fish, Liz Kalinowski, spokeswoman for the Maryland Department
of Natural Resources, said Monday.
The apparent culprit was Pfiesteria, or a micro-organism
like it, which produced ugly lesions in fish, including Atlantic
menhaden and croakers, before killing them.
Maryland's U.S. senators toured the stricken area
of the Pocomoke River by boat Monday and asked the Centers for
Disease Control and National Institutes of Health to help determine
whether the fish kill was linked to complaints of nausea and flu-like
symptoms among Pocomoke fishermen.
``The sooner we can determine the cause of these illnesses,
the sooner we can treat the problems and reopen this waterway,''
Sen. Paul Sarbanes, who joined fellow Democratic Sen. Barbara
Mikulski, said in a statement.
A key question is what activated the micro-organism
that may otherwise have been dormant for years, Kalinowski said.
``We probably have other agents at work in addition to a potentially
toxic micro-organism, so that means that we need to continue to
look for bacteria, any other types of influences on the water
that might be setting up the stage for a potentially toxic situation,
and that would also include looking closely at runoff pollution,''
she said.
The state has been monitoring lesions in Pocomoke
fish this summer and sent water samples to an expert at North
Carolina State University for testing. Expert JoAnne Burkholder,
said in a letter 60 to 70 percent of the lesions appeared consistent
with Pfiesteria-like organisms, but the remaining 30 to 40 percent
were not.
``Thus, I believe that your ongoing sampling effort
is of great value to determine the 'full picture' of causes of
fish disease/death in the Pocomoke,'' Burkholder wrote to officials.
The Chesapeake Bay, in the densely populated corrider
from Virginia to Delaware, has suffered from pollution from agriculture,
automobiles, industries and sewage, causing populations of fish,
shellfish and other wildlife to crash.
A massive effort has brought the once-teeming waterway
back from near ecological disaster.
``We shouldn't see this (fish kill) as an overall blemish on the hard work we've been doing on the restoration. We're years ahead here of many other areas in our pollution reduction,'' Kalinowski said.