NEWS
By CANDUS THOMSON | July 12, 2009
Seven years ago on a sweltering August day in Alabama, I watched professional bass fishermen put ice in their livewells before they put an iced drink to their lips. For them, killing a fish was unthinkable, and not just because they would be penalized by Bassmaster Classic officials and jeopardize their chance to win $200,000. They also knew that sloppy fish handling would diminish their standing as sportsmen. No matter where it happens, a fish kill also is a black eye for the tournament, the sponsors, the state natural resources agency charged with protecting fish and the reputation of the body of water.
NEWS
By Liz F. Kay | May 27, 2009
At least 3,000 fish have recently died in Baltimore's harbor, likely as a result of an algae bloom that sent a foul odor into surrounding neighborhoods, a Maryland Department of the Environment spokeswoman said Tuesday. The dead fish, primarily menhaden, were mostly congregated around the Domino Sugar plant in Locust Point, MDE spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus said. Scientists responding to reports of brown water and a bad smell Monday night suspect a seasonal algae bloom prompted oxygen levels in the water to drop, according to Stoltzfus.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton | September 16, 2007
An unexpected result of this summer's drought was an explosion of toxic algae linked to at least 15 fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay since July, according to a University of Maryland scientist. The microscopic organism, called karlodinium, is a peculiar bean-shaped predator with two whip-like arms. It thrives in the salinity that results when there is little rainfall and more ocean water enters the bay, said Allen Place, a biochemist at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute.
NEWS
By Nicole Fuller | August 1, 2007
An algae bloom appears to be the culprit behind dead fish found floating in the Inner Harbor yesterday morning, according to state environmental investigators. The fish kill - the second in the harbor in two months attributed to an algae bloom - was first reported by residents who complained about a stench Monday night. Most of the fish appeared to be scattered on the south side of the harbor near the marina and Rash Field. There were other fish closer to the Constellation, including some that washed up onto the concrete barrier.
NEWS
By Nicole Fuller and Anica Butler | June 6, 2007
Thousands of dead fish, along with decomposing algae, are causing a stench to emanate from the Inner Harbor and the waters off Canton, and a state official said yesterday that it might take at least a week to clear. The stink - and the dead fish - are the result of an algae bloom, or a "brown tide." State environmental officials have been investigating the fish kill since Sunday. The nutrient-rich harbor had a recent large bloom of microscopic algae that turned the water rust brown, said Charles Poukish, environmental program manager for Maryland Department of the Environment.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton | March 23, 2007
ACCIDENT -- Mark Harmon remembers the first hint of something funny with the trout at the state's Bear Creek hatchery in Western Maryland. The fish were swimming in circles. "You ever see a puppy chasing its tail? That's what they looked like," said Harmon, the hatchery's assistant manager. As it turns out, the fishes' spines and skulls were being deformed by a deadly parasite called Myxobolus cerebralis. The microscopic species causes an infection known as "whirling disease" that has decimated trout populations in Colorado, Montana and other Western states.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton | February 22, 2007
SWAN POINT -- A combination of disease and last week's sudden cold snap might have caused the death of about 50,000 white perch in the Potomac River near this Southern Maryland community, state officials said. Thousands of dead perch were heaped along the beach yesterday beside a wall of concrete boulders protecting an upscale subdivision. Scores of seagulls screamed overhead, and flies buzzed over the rotting fish. "It's apocalyptic, seeing so much death all at once," said Mike Roller, field supervisor for an archaeological surveying company, who walked along the littered beach as he returned from a site his firm is examining for home construction.
NEWS
By CANDUS THOMSON | August 14, 2006
MARBURY -- On the third day of the four-day Bassmaster Elite Series tournament, Kelly Jordon made a potential life-or-death decision on the water, releasing a bass he had hooked badly and returning to the dock one fish below the minimum. Instead of coming back to haunt him, Jordon's calculation paid off. He avoided the 4-ounce penalty that goes with having a dead fish on the boat and scored public relations points by giving the fish a chance to recover in the cooler water of Nanjemoy Creek.
NEWS
By Gady A. Epstein | May 15, 2005
NANYANG, China - One after another, the pictures piled up on Wei Dongying's simple wooden table, hundreds of them in all, until little of the tabletop was visible. The pictures came with spoken captions, one woman's narrative of the industrial death of a river that for generations sustained this town in eastern China. "The color of the tap water of our house is like this," Wei said, holding a photo of brownish-yellow liquid flowing out of a faucet. Buried underneath her photographs was an X-ray of her ailing mother-in-law, who would soon be diagnosed with a benign liver tumor.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton | August 5, 2004
Sun worshipers heading to the beaches in Ocean City this weekend can expect to find fewer dead fish than early this week, when thousands washed ashore after a massive fish kill. Since Tuesday, public works crews driving backhoes have been hauling away truckloads of rotting Atlantic croakers killed by a sudden change in water temperatures. The last of the fish are expected to wash ashore over the next few days, according to officials with the Maryland Department of the Environment. Roughly a million of the pinkish croakers - ranging from 6 inches to 2 feet long - started landing on beaches from Delaware to Virginia on Saturday.