Va. Scientists Refine Fish Kill Search

[hawkeye]

Va. Scientists Refine Fish Kill Search
Virginia Scientists Refine Search For Cause Of Shenandoah Fish Kills
ROANOKE, Va., Mar. 6, 2007
(AP) With spring approaching, Virginia scientists are planning a more comprehensive attack to find the cause of the mysterious fish kills in the Shenandoah River and its tributaries.

State agencies will continue practices of monitoring water quality and testing fish specimens that they've conducted since thousands of fish began dying for unexplained reasons three years ago.

But based on advice from two university professors, scientists will broaden their search for the cause or causes, state Department of Environmental Quality biologist Don Kain said Monday.

Don Orth, a Virginia Tech professor of fisheries and wildlife science, said he also will solicit help from scientists doing research in the valley that's unrelated to the fish kills.

"There is something wrong systemically with the whole basin," said Orth, who along with Greg Garman of Virginia Commonwealth University helped state scientists focus their fish kill investigation.

For one thing, scientists will look for compounds such as heavy metals and pesticides and other chemicals that could cause the symptoms of chronic stress that the dead fish exhibited. Many of the fish that died had lesions that resembled cigar burns. Some were intersex fish, meaning they had both male and female characteristics.

Previous tests have focused on nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous, which Kain said are easy to test for. Researchers now also will look for chemicals that are used specifically in the Shenandoah Valley, a largely agricultural area with the highest concentration of poultry and livestock in the state.

"We're going to the next level," Kain said.

One study to be examined will be a Virginia Tech colleague's research on arsenic's movement through the Shenandoah Valley soil, Orth said. An arsenic compound has been added to chicken feed for years, he said.

For the first time, state officials will use monitoring devices containing a liquid that attracts certain types of compounds. This will be a way to find compounds that might not show up on regular measurements but would show high concentrations over time, Kain said.

Scientists also will pay attention to water quality before, during and after storms to see what changes occur from runoff.

The Shenandoah Valley's geology is unique in that it has a number of cracks and crevices that provide a direct link to the river from inland areas, Orth said.

"That forces us to look beyond the pipes and the near-stream effects," he said.

Fish samples will continue to be analyzed for viruses, bacteria and parasites, but Kain said scientists will look for similarities to fish diseases that have been discovered in other areas.

Fish kills in the Great Lakes were caused by a virus that Virginia scientists hadn't tested for previously, he said. Scientists also want to see whether a virus that's supposed to affect only largemouth bass could be involved.

"Viruses do change over time," Kain said. "They mutate."

No largemouth bass have been affected in the Shenandoah, where smallmouth bass, redbreast sunfish and sucker species have died.

Last spring, northern hogsuckers died on the mainstem Shenandoah River, and smallmouth bass and sunfish died in the North Fork of the Shenandoah and in South River.

In 2005, 80 percent of the smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish in the South Fork developed lesions and died. The kill was similar to one in 2004 on the North Fork of the Shenandoah.

A kill last December on the main branch of the Shenandoah affected several hundred fish, mostly hogsuckers.

Previous spring fish kills have begun early in March, but Kain said Monday that no dead fish have been found so far this year. Scientists have no idea where kills might occur this year.

"I think the odds are this year we can see a fish kill anywhere," Orth said.

[hawkeye]

Re: Va. Scientists Refine Fish Kill Search

Fish kills resurface in the Shenandoah

April 30, 2007

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) -- Scattered fish kills have been found in the Shenandoah River and its branches, continuing a spring trend that started in 2003.
Anglers and state scientists are reporting hundreds of dead and sick fish in the Shenandoah River and its north and south forks. The fish apparently began dying the weekend of April 21.
"We're seeing dead and dying fish on numerous locations on those rivers," said Bill Hayden, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality.
The agency is asking the public to report fish deaths so that scientists can document the area and collect specimens to study.
Don Kain, an agency biologist and co-leader of the Shenandoah River Fish Kill Task Force, said dead and diseased fish have been found at various points of the river -- including Island Ford, near McGaheysville; on a section of the north fork of the Shenandoah about six miles from Woodstock; and on the south fork of the river between Bentonville and Front Royal.
Mr. Kain and Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist Steve Reeser also collected about 30 smallmouth bass near Port Republic and said five or six showed signs of stress.
"There are some fish with heavy mucus and lesions," Mr. Reeser said. "All are signs of what we have seen with previous kills."
Last spring, hundreds of northern hogsucker fish died in the main stem of the Shenandoah, while smallmouth bass and sunfish were found dead in the north and south forks of the river.
In 2005, 80 percent of the south fork's smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish died, and a similar kill occurred on the north fork in 2004.
Mr. Kain said the number of dead or diseased fish is lower this year because fish kills in past years have decreased the population -- not because the river is healthier.
Mr. Reeser said he found no redbreast sunfish during a visit to the river last week.
"They are nonexistent," he said. "Normally, this section of the river would be full of sunfish. I think they've been really impacted by the kills of the last few years."

Dead or diseased fish are sent to either a U.S. Geological Survey lab in Leetown, W.Va., or a veterinary lab at Virginia Tech.
The most common reasons for fish kills have been ruled out.
Officials have no explanation for the symptoms of chronic stress the dead fish displayed. Many bore lesions that resembled cigar burns and some were intersex -- males with female characteristics.
Fish samples in the past have been analyzed for viruses, bacteria and parasites, but this year scientists also will look for similarities to fish diseases that have been discovered in other areas.
The fish deaths have hurt the tourism and recreation industries in the Shenandoah Valley, state officials said.

[hawkeye]

Re: Va. Scientists Refine Fish Kill Search

Interesting. Whatever is killing this fish is no longer discriminating between the young and old.

"In 2004 and 2005 we lost smallmouth adults," said Kelble. "The juvenile fish were spared. But in this kill, they are not spared."

Shenandoah fish dying unceasingly
By: Charity Corkey
05/10/2007

Fish kills in the Shenandoah River watershed are no longer discernible incidents, but one continuous event.

"They are dying all over," said Shenandoah riverkeeper and fish kill task force member Jeff Kelble. "We get several reports a day."

For the past two weeks, Kelble has put-aside his other duties and focused primarily on the river.

"What we are seeing is another long-term chronic fish kill developing, and if it matches the pattern from previous years it will go on for another month," he said.

Contrary to years past, fish kills this spring are affecting both the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah.

"You can go over the river everywhere and see sick fish," said Keble. "We have covered most of the watershed."

Currently, the Department of Environment Quality, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and members of the Fish Kill Task Force are continuing their investigation of the occurrences, primarily the smallmouth bass and redbreast sun species.

"We're working very closely with several other state agencies as well as fisherman and people who have an interest in the rivers to do several things," said DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden. "We're following reports of dead fish, we're conducting water tests [and] we're analyzing some of the fish to send them out to labs."

At this point, the general consensus is that the fish have an immunity problem, which "seems more and more clear as we look at our fish," said Kelble.

Due to this immunity disorder, fish are dying of various conditions including organ failure, parasites and fungus. Many dead and dying fish are affected with lesions and sores.

Although there is not a way to determine the number of deaths, it is clear the problem is claiming a large percentage of the river's fish. In 2005 alone, it was estimated that 80 percent of the river's redbreast sunfish and smallmouth bass died. Since then, the condition has grown more aggressive.

"In 2004 and 2005 we lost smallmouth adults," said Kelble. "The juvenile fish were spared. But in this kill, they are not spared."

Despite the situation's gravity, Kelble believes more answers will be discovered shortly.

"We have enough scientists from various disciplines here that if we're going to figure out what's killing these fish, it's going to be this year," he said.

[Amish Country]

Re: Va. Scientists Refine Fish Kill Search

Fish kills resurface in the Shenandoah

April 30, 2007

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) -- ......Officials have no explanation for the symptoms of chronic stress the dead fish displayed. Many bore lesions that resembled cigar burns and some were intersex -- males with female characteristics.

Wasn't there a documentary years back on the BBC called "Assault on the Male" where similar this problem was linked (by the British) to chemicals used in plastics. The plastics were used to store greasy foods such as margerine, butter etc and the fats broke down the chemicals in the plastics and it leached into the water supply and was also linked to decreasing fertility in human males? It has been a very long while since I saw it so the facts here should be checked before being passed on.

The articles said the fish were checked for viruses. Wonder if they should also start checking for nano or is it nanite pollution as well?

[hawkeye]

Re: Va. Scientists Refine Fish Kill Search

Fish Kills Still Perplex Researchers
Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007 ; 06:00 AM

Possible human health effects in Hardy County are also being researched.

Story by Pam Kasey Email | Bio

Fish kills have become a familiar sign of spring in some Potomac River tributaries. But after five years, researchers still don't know why.

This year's fish kill season began in late April with reports of sunfish and smallmouth bass dying in Virginia's Shenandoah River basin.

By early May, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection had reports of dead and dying suckers, fallfish and sunfish along the South Branch of the Potomac in West Virginia.

"I would say at this point it is in the hundreds," Patrick V. Campbell, environmental resources program manager for the DEP's Division of Water and Waste Management, said in an interview two weeks into it.

The May fish kills have become more frequent since the first large one on the South Branch in 2002.

That kill led to the discovery that some male fish were developing eggs, a condition known as intersex.

It also spawned a multi-agency investigation that has continued through fish kills nearly every spring in the Shenandoah drainage and a second large one on the South Branch in May 2006.

This year's South Branch fish kill resembles last year's and 2002's, according to Bret Preston, assistant chief of the state Division of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Section, who visited there the second week of May.

As in the past, Preston said, the fish are found with sores, or lesions. And they're not concentrated at one location as in a typical fish kill, but spread out.

"You would find one fish at a location and then you might go 200 yards and see another one," he said. "We had a few fish spread out over a large area."

This year's kill started earlier and is running longer: The 2002 and 2006 events came over Memorial Day weekend.

Researching a Complex System

"We're looking at some of the synthetic organic compounds," said Douglas B. Chambers of the United States Geological Survey's West Virginia Water Science Center in Charleston.

Those are the "endocrine disrupting compounds" that are the focus of the research that began in 2003.

EDCs mimic estrogen and, in even extremely small concentrations, can cause disruptions like eggs in male fish.

Suspected compounds include estrogens in untreated human and livestock urine and in discarded birth control pills as well as antimicrobial chemicals, compounds that make plastics flexible, fire retardants and pesticides.

So far, the research neither points to any of these nor rules any of them out, according to Chambers. He co-authored a December report on water and fish blood plasma samples taken in 2004.

Vicki Blazer, a fish pathologist with the USGS's Leetown Science Center at Kearneysville, said she also feels the lesions, the kills and the intersex condition may have more than one cause.

"We have a population that, because of various stressors, is immuno-suppressed," she said. "At some point you overwhelm the ability of those fish to deal with the stressors and then you have fish kills."

She said she sees a pattern in land use.

Sites sampled outside the Potomac drainage, on the Gauley and Tygart rivers, show an incidence of intersex below 20 percent of fish sampled and also have very low human population and agricultural use, she said.

On the South Branch, she said, 30 to 50 percent of fish turn up intersex, while the watershed has a bit higher population and much more agriculture.

And in the Shenandoah River drainage, she said, "we're finding 80 to 100 percent intersex and much more agriculture and more people."

That informal observation needs further analysis, she said.

This season, beyond continuing to collect water, sediment and fish tissues, researchers are looking at spawning behavior and outcomes to determine whether the intersex condition affects reproduction, Blazer said. Results should be available in the fall.

Human Health

Research continues as well on possible human health effects.

Incidences of prostate cancer and of female breast cancer are lower in Hardy County than across the state, said Patricia Colsher, director of the West Virginia Cancer Registry.

While that may sound like simple good news, Colsher said there may be more to it.

"When you get eggs in the testes (of fish), that suggests there's something hormonal going on," she said.

"And we know that female breast cancer as well as prostate cancer can be affected by hormones," she continued. "When you see significantly lower rates of hormone-sensitive cancers in an area where you know from the fish point of view there's something going on hormonally, that's drawing attention."

Researchers are looking at the types of breast cancers reported in Hardy County for clues.

They're also looking into where women have lived who are treated for breast cancer in Hardy County.

Funding Needed

The continuing uncertainty is not due to a lack of effort.

"It's one of the agency's priorities," said DEP's Campbell. "It's something that we're taking very seriously."

Besides the agencies represented above, the coordinated research effort includes the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, corresponding agencies in Virginia, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Fish and Wildlife Service. West Virginia University and other academic and nonprofit organizations are also involved.

And over the past year alone, scientific and public information gatherings took place in September, January, March and May.

There's a lot of research going on, Blazer said. What's slowing down the results is funding.

"We've been asked where we should go from here and my answer is, we have a lot of tissue, a lot of sediment, a lot of water samples that haven't even been analyzed yet," she said. "Let's get the money to analyze the chemical and the biological samples we already have and hopefully that will tell us where we need to go from there."

For the USGS, that money would need to be allocated by Congress, she said.

[hawkeye]

Re: Va. Scientists Refine Fish Kill Search

I'm somewhat convinced now that this river is plagued by high levels of nitrates and phosphates. Those interested should look upstream for a large factory farm, likely poultry