TITLE: Maryland vows an all-out effort to identify culprit behind fish sores
BYLINE: Gene Mueller
CREDIT: THE WASHINGTON TIMES
EST. PAGES: 2
DATE: 07/02/97
DOCID: WATI246538
SOURCE: The Washington Times; WATI
EDITION: 2; SECTION: B;SPORTS;OUTDOORS; PAGE: B5
ORIGIN: ANNAPOLIS
(Copyright 1997)
ANNAPOLIS - After a special press briefing on the nightmarish appearance of lesions and sores on some of the fish in Maryland's tidal waters - particularly the Eastern Shore's Pocomoke River - the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, John Griffin, says, "We're very concerned, but there should be no undue alarm and panic. We're in hot pursuit of what's causing this."
The DNR and the state's Department of the Environment, as well as the Health Department, are searching for the culprit that, perhaps prematurely, has been tied to recent fish kills in North Carolina during an outbreak of pfiesteria piscicida. Pfiesteria, a microorganism that may have been buried in river and bay sediments of coastal bays and rivers for a thousand years, of late has reared its nasty head whenever warm weather, too many nutrients and moderate salinity combine with the presence of large numbers of fish. (During years of higher than normal rainfall, nutrients - perhaps from farming or other sources - are frequently flushed into the water.)
In the Neuse River and other tidal waterways of North Carolina, pfiesteria outbreaks have been blamed for the deaths of billions (that's billions, not millions) of fish, most of them members of the menhaden family.
Maryland biologists, meanwhile, have kept in touch with North Carolina marine resources officials, in addition to collecting water and sediment samples from the Pocomoke River and the Pocomoke Sound. The samples were sent to two pfiesteria experts, Dr. JoAnn Burkholder of North Carolina State University and Dr. Karen Steidinger of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The tests from an original 10 samples sent to Florida, and five sent to North Carolina as recently as May 16, showed an absence of pfiesteria. However, when Washington TV station WJLA (Channel 7) collected one water sample in the Shelltown area of the Pocomoke and forwarded it to Burkholder, it tested positive for pfiesteria. Two other samples taken from the Shelltown area June 17 were sent to Steidinger and Burkholder; Steidinger said pfiesteria was absent in her sample, and Burkholder said pfiesteria was present. A subsequent fish sampling on June 25 near Shelltown yielded 426 finfish, 12 of which had lesions. Whether pfiesteria was present hasn't been determined yet.
Dave Goshorn, the chief of the DNR's Living Resource Assessment Program, says, "We will continue to sample water and sediment on a regular basis. We'll be out again all next week. We're looking at anything in the water that may directly or indirectly be contributing to the water quality." Goshorn points out that in the case of the Pocomoke, water quality has been monitored since 1985. "Nutrient levels are high," he says, "but the river appears to be no different than others."
Goshorn says the river's pH levels, however, are very low. It has an acid content that has been as low as 5 (7.2 is ideal). Goshorn says that occasionally high water levels that wash unwanted matter from land into the river can add to the problem.
As far as charges that chicken farms along this Eastern Shore river could have added to pollution problems, Griffin said, "We have the authority by state law to immediately enforce water quality standards." The state is looking at all the possibilities, and Griffin denies that his department has been dragging its feet on the matter of the sick fish.
The state agrees that fish - primarily white perch and striped bass - bearing sores have been seen in a variety of places, but not in very large numbers. Besides the Pocomoke, ailing stripers, perch, even a few catfish and largemouth bass, have been noted in the upper Bay, around the Bay bridges, as well as the Patuxent and the Potomac rivers. To assist the DNR in adding to its data base, the department asks that anglers who notice anything wrong with fish call a special computerized hotline. You'll be prompted to answer certain questions, and if you choose to provide your name and address, the DNR will be in touch.
Since June 25, the DNR has fielded 129 calls that reported, among other species, 233 striped bass that were caught by anglers. Sixty-three had lesions; 29 from the upper Bay, 14 from Calvert, Talbot and Dorchester counties, 13 from the Patuxent and Potomac rivers, and seven from the Tangier Sound. In the coming weeks a number of charter boats will have a DNR biologist aboard to monitor fish catches and others will work closely with commercial watermen and sport anglers.
Sadly, when Griffin was asked if anybody knows precisely what is happening to the fish, he said, "We may never know for sure, but we're working very hard to find what's causing this. We don't want people over-concerned. There have been no reports of people becoming sick from eating fish."
The DNR also points out that fully cooking the fish will kill all bacteria, but it recommends that you release fish that contain sores of any type.
Virginia, meanwhile, has been oddly silent. Does it believe all its fish are unaffected?
Look for Gene Mueller's Outdoors column every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - only in The Washington Times