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Just in case anyone was planning a trip to smallmouth fish the Shenandoah river this year, early estimates are that 70% of the adult smallies are gone from the South Fork. The fish that are being caught have bad lesions on them. It's a sad year for smallmouth bass fisherman in Virginia.
There was a very noticeable decrease in smallmouth population on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River last year. Word is that a "virus" was the cause, and it is now on the South Fork. What is puzzling is that very little (if anything)was published locally to bring this to light. Then again, the tourism business would have (will be) affected so "advertising" may not have been in the best interest to some. I would think if the Va Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries' interest was in the protection of the fishery, it would have made the problem known and looked for resources to "resolve" it. With today's technology, I find it hard to believe there should be an issue with a quick and accurate determination of the cause so some sort of plan can be developed to restore the fishery - if that is possible. With the North Fork issue being over a year old, what has the VDGIF done? I'm not accusing anyone of anything, I'm just asking an honest/open question. This is not a minor issue for this area. I would hope it gets the attention it deserves by all parties, both government and private. It sure has my attention.
There is currently a very long string on [url=http://www.wvangler.com:6dceb]http://www.wvangler.com[/url:6dceb] new bulletin board regarding this very same topic.
It is in regards to the South Branch of the Potomac and the smallmouth kill that occured there 2-3 years ago. It was a pretty massive kill. Now they are catching smallies with the same red lesions and some fish have both sex organs.
The thing the Shenandoah and S. Branch of the Potomac have in common are the chicken farms in the area.
If you get an opportunity, check the string titled "South Branch of the Potomac - questions" on the WV "home" board. Very good reading.
Chris
Apparently the situation is bad enough that one shop has canceled all their bookings on Shenandoah this year and will be floating the James instead.
I floated the James and the Maury over the weekend. The fish looked good and healthy in those systems.
In expanding on what NA has stated, the S-branch of the Potomac flows through Petersburg, WVa where there is a large well know chicken processing plant located on the banks of the river. At the time of the first fish kill up there, we were enroute back home from our place in Canaan Valley and the stench of the disenfectants permeating the air was as if I had a whole bucket of it right under my nose. I called a friend who is heavily involved with the S.Branch and alerted him to what I thought was a problem and after that through pressure from local fishing groups, the authorities came in and began conducting studies as to what was going on. Things have been going down hill since then and I am very suspicious of just what might be getting dumped into that river. The Shennandoah also has plants along the most productive parts of that smallmouth fishery as well. The North branch of the Potomac's other very rich smallmouth fishery around Harper's Ferry to my knowledge has not reported any problems thank God.
This is really going to come from left field.20-25 years ago a local Mink farm was put out of business when he fed his male minks a bunch of chicken parts and pieces. I don't know how they do it now but the hormone tablet injected in the Roosters neck to make them a Capon also neutered the male minks. There are many things being done that eventually work up the food chain. My farm pond frog and toad population is almost non existant. Why? I don't know. Article in the Sunday Milwaukee Journal concerning pharmaceutical by products being present in local waters. No point to make but we never seem to learn that it is awful hard to go back when we change the environment.
The Virginia Fish & Game biolgist for the Shenandoah Valley, along with a Va Environmental Quality person, spoke at the last meeting of the Potomac River Smallmouth Club.
The bottom line is that they have not been able to find a cause for the fishkill. They are still collecting information, but so far the data does not support any hypothesis. Biolgists at Virgina Tech are working with them. The organs of live collected fish with lesions seem healthy enough. But, apparently once the lesions occur, mortality in the weakened fish often follows within a month or so. They report that some fish do survive. They are attributing the problem in part to stress brought on by low immune system function (after the winter); spring time temp fluctuations; and the spawn. But, that doesn't seem to be the complete story--and they are not assuming that it is. There would seem to be a trigger that brought these events to a head on these particular rivers over the past few years.
There are some clear suspects, but nothing definitive. Clearly, the rivers that have been affected: the South Branch of the Potomac (WV)in 02; the Cacapon(WV)in 03; the North Fork of the Shenadoah in 04 and now the South Fork of the Shenandoah have some common characteristics. The most notable being extensive poultry and other agricultural operations in their vicinity. The streams that form the headwaters of the South Fork have high levels of fecal contamination. But, that alone apparently does not account for the problem.
One of the oddities that has not been explained is that the fishkill has been moving steadily from West to East over the past few years--and once a river experiences it, it has not re-occurred. However, the kill has targeted the larger fish, and the population of those in the affected rivers is severely reduced. Another oddity; and the little bit of good news is that these rivers had good spawns last year after about 4 or 5 very poor years due to drought--then flooding.
It appears that the storm may be abating on the South Fork, but the damage has been done. They report mortality in excess of 50% already.
All of the affected rivers are important components of the Potomac watershed, but as far as I know the main stem of the Potomac has not been affected, as yet. Nor have any other of the major watersheds in WV or Va. Fingers crossed.
BTW, a number of organizations in Virginia, e.g. TU, Enviromnental groups, the state and the feds are actively working with farmers to develop riparian buffers, etc. But, these efforts have a long way to go.
Vaguely remember the floods back in the 80's (? ) maybe the 90's; when there were PCB's released in the Shenandoah & dioxins in the Potomac with lots of warnings about eating & touching the larger fish for years. Seems they thought most of the fish kills were because the fish were left high & dry after the flood waters receded !
I remember the fishkill in the Potomac and other waterways in the DC area (at least I thought it was in the DC area) a couple of years ago. I thought that they had determined it was Listeria which was doing the killing. It sounds like the same thing that you are seeing in the Shenandoah, red lesions on the dead and sick fish, etc.
This is not good. If only those same illnesses would attach the Snakeheads invading the Potomac and leave the other fish alone.
I was with a cousin who is a member of Virginia's game and fisheries board last evening. They still don't have any notion of what is causing the problem. We were speculating that fecal material from the geese that are over-running the rivers might be implicated, but were that so, I'd expect to see the problem on the James, too.