THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508190082
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Wind from Hurricane Felix may have brought long-needed relief to some coastal waterways that have suffered in recent weeks from low oxygen concentrations and fish kills.
``All this wind will be somewhat helpful in the Albemarle Sound and possibly other areas,'' said Harrel B. Johnson, head of the Division of Marine Fisheries regional office in Elizabeth City. ``It does have a tendency to break up areas of low dissolved oxygen.''
Although Felix's winds may have provided some short-term relief to fish and other marine life in area waterways, participants at an environmental summit in Raleigh earlier this week said nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the state's coastal waterways could pose long-term problems for marine life far beyond the short-term consequences of this summer's fish kills.
One of the state's best-known marine scientists said it is past time for North Carolina to get serious about these pollutants.
``There is real trouble going on in our estuaries in terms of fish kills and nutrient enrichment,'' said JoAnn Burkholder, associate professor at North Carolina State University. ``We desperately need, in my opinion, to strengthen coastal water-quality management.''
Burkholder is a member of the state Marine Fisheries Commission and an aquatic biologist who discovered a new toxic algae about three years ago that is believed to have caused about 50 percent of the fish kills on the Pamlico and Neuse rivers in recent years.
She was one of about 200 government officials, scientists, industry representatives and environmentalists who gathered in Raleigh at the North Carolina Nutrient Summit to discuss the health of North Carolina's coastal waters.
The summit focused on the effects of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which flow into waterways from croplands, industries, hog and poultry farms, lawns and streets. The nutrients promote the growth of microscopic vegetation such as phytoplankton and algae, which can multiply at such terrific rates that they rob the water of oxygen needed by aquatic plants and animals.
An increase in nutrients may have already caused some long-term environmental changes.
Besides the fish kills and algae blooms that have occurred in eastern North Carolina waterways from the Black River near Wilmington in the south to the Chowan River in the north, nutrient overloads contribute to red sores on fish, add to the rise of toxic algae and can lead to species changes, according to Burkholder and other scientists at the conference.
Nearly 98 percent of the fish - mostly menhaden - found in a series of pound net samples this year in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary suffered from red sores. And some fishermen could see changes in their catches because of changes in the food web caused by reduced oxygen and an increase in nutrients, according to Tom Malone, director of the Horn Point Environmental Laboratory in Cambridge, Md.
In June, July and early August, breaks in animal-waste lagoons sent more than 31 gallons of untreated waste flowing into the New River and other coastal waterways. And flow reductions by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Virginia Power Co. contributed to dissolved oxygen problems on the Roanoke River.
These events were partly responsible for a larger-than-expected crowd at the two-day summit despite the arrival of Hurricane Felix off the state's coast, summit organizers and participants said.
``Major events or catastrophes usually prompt action rather than scientific findings,'' Malone said.
Excess concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in the Pamlico-Tar and Neuse rivers make these waterways particularly prone to fish kills in the summer, especially when high temperatures combine with periods of low rainfall and stagnant waters.
A fish kill on the Neuse River not far from New Bern that destroyed more than 1 million fish over seven days in late July and early August was thought to be caused, in part, by phosphorous- and nitrogen-laden runoff from nearby farms.
Concern over these events has united commercial fishermen, sports fishing groups and fisheries regulators - three groups that are often at odds over how to best protect the state's coastal fishing stocks - in seeking a greater role for the Division of Marine Fisheries in protecting water quality and habitat.
Besides better coordination among state environmental agencies, some other solutions to excess nutrients in coastal waters discussed during the conference include:
Stronger nutrient-reduction targets in basinwide management plans for the state's waterways.
Mandatory use of ``best management practices'' for agriculture and other large land users, including buffer strips.
More effective land-use plans that focus on handling the cumulative effects of development.
Tighter coastal water-quality management guidelines.
An expanded environmental education program. by CNB