Dead Fish

The discovery of a parasite responsible for a fish kill in Virginia last month has thrown another variable into attempts to understand the toxic microbe Pfiesteria piscicida.Although signs pointed to Pfiesteria, Virginia scientists found that Kudoa, a parasite more often associated with fish ponds than Chesapeake Bay tributaries, killed hundreds of menhaden in the James River between Newport News and Hampton Oct. 20-22."The salinity in that part of the river was right [for Pfiesteria]; it was warm and shallow, and it was fall, the same time of the year we had the other events," said Greg C. Garman, a Virginia Commonwealth University fish biologist.

The estimated 200,000 yellow perch, menhaden, mummichogs and silverside that died in the upper reaches of Magothy and Patapsco rivers' tributaries in the past week represent the worst such fish kill in 10 years, state officials said yesterday.And unless the weather changes, the fish kills will only get worse, said Charles Poukish, environmental specialist for the state Department of Natural Resources.The kill is another indication of a Chesapeake Bay ecosystem "living on the edge of severe problems," added Robert Magnien, DNR's chief of resource assessments.

An estimated 1 million dead fish were discovered yesterday in the lower Pocomoke River and one of its creeks. State officials believe it is the largest fish kill in Chesapeake Bay tributaries in a decade.Scientists said they suspect low oxygen is responsible rather than Pfiesteria piscicida, the toxic microorganism that afflicted fish, watermen and the state fishing industry in 1997."The immediate indication is this is not Pfiesteria," Gov. Parris N. Glendening said. "There are no lesions, and there are no fish in distress."

The drought-driven fish kill that has sent perch, carp, pike and many other species belly-up on local river banks for the past week continued to mount yesterday, with waterfront residents in Cape St. Claire reporting thousands of dead fish along beaches there."

Thousands of fish in tributaries of the Patapsco and Magothy rivers have been killed over the past week by lack of oxygen, caused in part by drought, say state environment officials.Such widespread oxygen depletion has not been seen in more than a decade, said Charles A. Poukish, a specialist with the Maryland Department of the Environment. He is investigating the most recent fish kills in the Baltimore metropolitan area."We periodically see these types of things in some areas of the [Chesapeake]

Grasping nets and buckets, scientists from the state Department of Natural Resources waded into the icy waters of the Patapsco River yesterday and snagged their quarry: stone flies, hellgrammites and other insects that survived a mysterious fish kill that destroyed 20,000 fish two weeks ago."We appear to have lucked out," Bob Lunsford, the state's freshwater fisheries director, said about the plentiful supply of insects, which indicated good water quality.Investigators from the Maryland Department of Environment say they don't know what killed the fish that were found floating in the water Dec. 22, but with the river apparently in good health, scientists are focusing on the weather.

Investigators from the Maryland Department of the Environment are searching for what killed 20,000 fish along a four-mile stretch of the Patapsco River last week, Maryland's largest fish kill since the outbreak of Pfiesteria on the Pocomoke River last year.The fish -- at least five species -- were floating in the river and lying on the banks Dec. 22 between the Avalon Area of Patapsco Valley State Park and U.S. 1, next to Elkridge, said department spokesman Quentin W. Banks Jr.Environmental officials who visited the scene that day concluded that the fish had been dead at least 24 hours.

OXFORD -- State pathologists who study Maryland's fish kills warn that Pfiesteria piscicida could pose a potent danger to anyone who touches a sick-looking fish."

SHELLTOWN -- With thousands of fish mysteriously dying in the Pocomoke River for the second day, state authorities closed three miles of the Eastern Shore waterway yesterday to all fishing, crabbing and recreation.State health officials said they knew of no health risk to people, but closed the river as a precaution. Ten people, including eight watermen, have complained of river-related health problems."There's been no definite evidence yet" that the two are linked, said state Health Secretary Martin P. Wasserman.

SHELLTOWN -- This thatch of land mocks maps. So a visitor follows the thirsty corn and the granite tombstones bearing family names like MARINER and FRESHWATER. Stapled to a nearby telephone pole is a sign: FREE SUSHI AT BOAT RAMP! Getting warmer.Hogs the size of hippos and chicken condos are other landmarks. At the Baptist Church, turn left and follow the Dead End sign to waterman Fred Maddox's home in this shell of an Eastern Shore town. Park on the dented grass by the state government cars and TV satellite trucks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.