Large fish kill hits western Lake Erie

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/114681827327890.xml&coll=2

Friday, May 05, 2006
Molly Kavanaugh
Plain Dealer Reporter

..."It's much more extensive than we've seen," said Jeff Tyson, fisheries biologist supervisor with the state's Sandusky Fish Research Unit...

Last week, Tyson sent samples to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in La Crosse, Wis. Preliminary reports indicate the fish died of a viral infection, but more testing is needed to determine the strain...

Large numbers of dead fish also have been reported in Michigan's waters, including muskellunge in the Detroit River.

The last big fish kill in Ohio was about five years ago, when large numbers of carp washed ashore. Samples of those fish were sent for analysis, but the tests were inconclusive because the samples were too decomposed, Tyson said.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. There has been outbreaks of pfiesteria. Saw something about it

on TV last night.
North Carolina and Maryland had a breakout in the recent past.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/cmse/science/pfiesteria.html
The Fuss Over Pfiesteria

Hundreds, sometimes thousands of dead fish, their bodies disfigured by bizarre open sores--these were the press reports out of eastern North Carolina in the early Nineties. Baffled scientists tested for the usual fish kill suspects and found none. What was wrong?

The answer came when NC State veterinary scientists filled one of their brackish water aquariums with Pamlico River water and 300 fish promptly went belly up. The water contained no known pollutants, bacteria, or pathogens. But it was swarming with microscopic, animal-like cells of a previously unknown species, now called Pfiesteria piscicida (pronounced feast-er-ia pis-ki-seed-a). Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, an NC State aquatic botanist, has become the best-known authority on pfiesteria and its environmental effects, but many other scientists are studying the organism.
<snip>
(2) Pfiesteria is indeed dangerous. Researchers in the NC State lab of Dr. JoAnn Burkholder quickly found that its toxins cause neurological symptoms, including memory loss, disorientation, and speech impediments. One researcher had to be hospitalized before adequate laboratory precautions were worked out.
<snip>
(4)The pfiesteria outbreaks are associated with the known water quality problems in North Carolina estuaries. This seems very clear now. Pfiesteria has become a big problem in waters having low oxygen levels and high nutrient loads caused by sewage discharges and agricultural runoff


More info and links
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pfiesteriainfections.html

[caligirl]

2. Ohhh, I once swam in that water, sister lives on Lake Erie west

of Cleveland.

[Monk06]

3. This has been happening every year in the lakes since 1960...

I went to Wassaga Beach when I was eight years old
in the summer of '60 and the shoreline was three feet
deep in dead carp with open sores.

Eels are also a big killer.

[caligirl]

5. Just in case, welcome to DU, its an interesting place.

[Monk06]

6. Just in case you think my remark was anti enviro........

Carp are bottom feeders capable of eating almost anything.
When they're dying in large numbers it means the bottom
of the Great Lakes is a Chemical and Bio Hazard Zone.

Years ago I read a report that a large mass of solid waste
floating in Lake Michigan and boats had to navigate around
it. (long time ago, maybe urban legend)

I have personally gone swimming in the Ottawa River and had
to dive underwater to avoid islands of straw contaminated by
hog manure.

I would never swim in the Great Lakes for love or money except
maybe on the north shore of Superior.

[MercutioATC]

4. Beware the fish flu!