Date:

Tue, 26 May 1998 09:02:15 -0400

MORE FISH KILLS LIKELY THIS SUMMER

With an El Nino-driven wet spring, federal officials say they're bracing for summer outbreaks of more fish-killing algae blooms and harmful microbes such as pfiesteria.

"The conditions may be favorable for another outbreak," Terry Garcia, assistant commerce secretary for oceans and atmosphere, told a Senate hearing Wednesday on the growing concerns raised by summer algae growth and microbe contamination in coastal estuaries from Maine to Alaska.

Government officials and scientists described what they called a growing national problem of algae concentrations and reports of toxic algae and microbes in an increasing number of coastal waters around the country.

"These harmful algae blooms impact nearly every coastal state," Garcia told the Senate Commerce subcommittee on science and fisheries. The algae concentrations deprive the water of oxygen, creating dead zones for fish. The toxic microbes such as pfiesteria feed on algae as well as fish.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the panel's chairman, estimated that outbreaks of red tide, brown tide, and oxygen-depriving algae plumes, as well as toxic microbes such as pfiesteria are costing the fishing industry $35 million to $65 million a year.

"Even more troubling is that science cannot fully explain why this is happening or how to prevent it in the future," Snowe said in opening the hearing.

Last year an outbreak of pfiesteria on two tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay attracted national attention, forcing the closing of the two rivers and killing thousands of fish. At least 39 people suffered health effects from skin rashes to memory loss, according to federal officials. Suzanne Schwartz, director of oceans and coastal protection at the Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency is working with states to develop rapid response plans in case of outbreaks this summer.

But, she said, "it's difficult to predict where outbreaks will be" or when they will arise. Federal agencies and scientists have stepped up research into the cause of pfiesteria and are trying to find ways to more quickly detect it in rivers and streams. Many scientists believe it is linked to nutrient runoff including wastes from poultry farms.

But Garcia and a panel of scientists, who also testified, emphasized that pfiesteria is only one of many toxic plankton that threaten waterways, and that an even broader problem involves the large concentrations of harmful algae blooms that deprive water of oxygen and create vast dead zones devoid of fish.

One such area is off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The large algae concentration, covering 7,000 square miles, comes from nutrients washed down the Mississippi River including fertilizer and animal waste from Midwest farms.

But Dr. Nancy Rabalais of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, who has studied the Gulf bloom extensively, says the problem is national.

"Oxygen depletion (from algae concentration) occurs during the spring, summer and fall in over half of the major estuaries in the United States," she told the subcommittee. Garcia said that in recent years there have been a growing number of cases of toxic algae blooms known as red tides in the Gulf of Mexico and along the southeastern coast; brown tides off New York and Texas; and shellfish poisoning off Maine, off the Pacific Northwest and in Alaska waters.

"It's a national problem ... and the impact on the economy is staggering and it is not being addressed," said Garcia.

Snowe and Sen. John Breaux, D-La., are pushing legislation that would provide more money for research into harmful algae blooms and toxic microbes that threaten coastal fishing areas. The bill would allocate $24 million to such research, about twice the amount currently being spent. The problem, Snowe said, "is only going to grow worse. That's certain."

Source: Associated Press