
DATE: Wednesday, September 24, 1997         TAG: 9709240459

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SAXIS, VA.                        LENGTH:  164 lines

PFIESTERIA CASTS PALL OVER TOWN TINY ENEMY IS CAUSING BIG WORRIES

The rugged residents of this remote fishing village - population: ``about 300, give or take a few,'' says Mayor Charles Tull - are worried they might be wiped out.

Erosion from waves and storms off the Chesapeake Bay may get them in the long run. But the source of their anxiety these days is a deadly microbe, believed to be hanging around in the neighboring Pocomoke River - and, more important, the consumer fears now spreading across the nation about eating seafood pulled from waters here.

Saxis, clinging to the windswept edge of Accomack County on Virginia's Eastern Shore, relies almost exclusively on the bounty of Pocomoke Sound and the Pocomoke River to make ends meet. Tull estimates that 60 percent to 70 percent of the local economy is tied to what residents catch.

``It's a scary thought if they close down Pocomoke Sound,'' Aubrey Justice, president of the Pocomoke Sound Watermen's Association, said as he leaned against the sun-drenched docks here Monday morning. ``You take away the crabs and you can pretty much take Saxis off the map. Just take the scissors and cut us off the map.''

Like most watermen here, Justice deals mostly in soft-shell crabs, and he says the crabbing this summer has been ``damned good.'' The problem, he and others say, is what can happen to the Chesapeake Bay seafood industry - and their town - if questions and fears persist about how and when the microbe, known as Pfiesteria piscicida, strikes.

``We need answers, plain and simple,'' Justice said. ``People out there are making all kinds of wild assumptions and stuff. It's like a rumor running out of control.

``People are just saying it ain't worth the risk of picking up a fish if they think something's wrong - even if it's the healthiest darned fish you've ever seen. And let me tell you, I haven't seen a fish with a lesion on it all summer. The Bay's full of good fish.''

The lower Pocomoke River and a sliver of Pocomoke Sound, both within sight of the busy seafood docks at Saxis, have been closed to fishing and human contact since Aug. 29. Pfiesteria, a one-celled predator, is suspected of killing thousands of fish and sickening at least 28 people on the Maryland side of the river.

No one in Virginia has suffered memory loss, nausea, fatigue or skin sores - the symptoms, scientists believe, of a pfiesteria attack on humans.

And while fish with lesions have shown up in other rivers, including the Rappahannock, no fish outside of the Pocomoke system are believed to have died because of pfiesteria, state officials say.

Still, Saxis residents and watermen criticize how Virginia has responded to what has become known as ``pfiesteria hysteria,'' a phenomenon that, fueled by scientific uncertainty and a curious press, has become a national news story.

Tull wonders why Virginia did so little when pfiesteria was blamed for the deaths of a billion fish in North Carolina estuaries in recent years, then was discovered on the Maryland side of the Pocomoke River this spring.

He gave high marks to Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, who, in an attempt to quell fears of unsafe fish, toured the Pocomoke River last month and ate a plate of seafood in front of TV cameras and reporters.

As for Gov. George F. Allen, Tull had few kind words. He said Allen has been content ``to sit up in his ivory tower in Richmond.'' Tull wrote the governor recently, asking him to come to Saxis and talk to the people on the front lines. He has not had a reply.

``If you were a cattle farmer and cattle were dying on either side of your fence, you'd say, `Whoa, what's going on here?' '' said Tull, a low-key insurance adjustor whom residents know by sight and wave to.

``But with pfiesteria - here it was showing up all around us, in North Carolina, in Maryland. And we sat back and hoped it would go away. What were we thinking? I'm very disappointed in our response.''

Recently, Allen has begun to take a more public approach toward the issue. On Friday, he attended a summit in Annapolis, appearing with governors of other mid-Atlantic states, and agreed to share information on the microbe. Two days earlier he allocated $800,000 for additional research.

Ned Van Dyck, pastor of the Saxis United Methodist Church, said pfiesteria has caused ``a lot of concern'' among residents. He read a letter to his congregation Sunday from Elizabeth A.S. Wright, Eastern Shore superintendent for the United Methodist Church.

``Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you throughout this ordeal,'' Wright wrote.

Established in 1666, Saxis was known as Sykes Island, supporting cattle farming and fishing. Its island status ended in 1925, when a road was built through an enormous marsh that for centuries had cut off access except by boat.

Still, most locals refer to Saxis as ``the island.'' And the town has retained its seafood heritage. The town seal depicts a crab, a fish and three oysters stacked on top of each other, and a commercial fishing boat is painted on a welcoming sign at the marshy frontage of the town.

Known for their fierce independence, locals have always fought to retain their way of life. Not only are most watermen critical of Allen's reaction to pfiesteria, but some are especially peeved at how Virginia closed the Pocomoke River. After Maryland announced late on Aug. 29 that it was closing parts of the river, based on a medical report that linked sick people to a microorganism, Virginia followed suit - but without giving warning to watermen.

A handful of fishermen could not retrieve their crab pots from the river - and now they want the state to pay them for what turned out to be a week's worth of waiting before they could go get their gear.

``I figure I lost about $7,000,'' said Larry Linton, a Saxis crabber who had 250 crab pots trapped inside the closure zone. ``That's money that could tide me over through the winter.''

Maryland compensated its watermen who couldn't immediately recover their gear because of the closure, paying 10 of them $5 per pot, or about $5,000 in all, said Liz Kalinowski, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. ``We figured it was the fair thing to do,'' she said.

Wilford Kale, a spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, said the commission has not received a request for compensation, but he doubted that such money would be released anyway.

Like most scientists, the watermen of Saxis figure that chicken manure from the hundreds of small chicken farms on the Virginia and Maryland Eastern Shore is probably the prime catalyst for pfiesteria.

The current theory, according to scientists, is that nutrient-rich manure washes off the land and into the Pocomoke River system. High in nitrogen and phosphorus, the manure, in conjunction with certain conditions in the water, sparks the changing of pfiesteria to an aggressive microbe.

Kefford and Martha Linton know all about chicken manure. The Saxis couple have noticed for years that some chicken farmers let contractors pile their manure outside of holding pens built especially to contain the wastes, then use the manure as fertilizer the next growing season.

As they drove down small country roads, through farm towns such as Mears and Hallwood, the Lintons pointed to three such piles and said they know of plenty of others. The sites were so rich in nutrients that several trees around each of them were dead.

``Look at that,'' Martha Linton said, pointing to a tarlike pond of ammonia-smelling manure. ``That stuff just washes down these ditches. And guess where they all lead? The Pocomoke.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON color photos/The Virginian-Pilot

The people of Saxis on the Eastern Shore depend on the bounty of

Pocomoke Sound and the Pocomoke River. But pfiesteria, which has

killed a billion fish in North Carolina, may lurk in nearby waters,

flourishing when manure washes into waterways upstream.

Mayor Charles Tull and his wife, Teresa, attend a Sunday church

service in Saxis. The mayor wonders why state officials in Virginia

waited so long to act. Pfiesteria had surfaced in North Carolina and

Maryland, ``showing up all around us. . . . And we sat back and

hoped it would go away.''

Linda Miles, left, Joan Martin, Judy Ewell, Dorothy Chelton and

Sandra Martin attend a Sunday school session at Saxis United

Methodist Church. Pastor Ned Van Dyck says pfiesteria has caused ``a