THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW BERN LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The state's top environment and health officials tried Tuesday to reassure the public that fish from the Neuse River are safe to eat.
And several of them plan to come to New Bern today to sample seafood from the Neuse River to prove the point.
``At least one news story has said that no one will tell folks that the fish are safe to eat,'' said state fisheries Director Bruce L. Freeman. ``That's exactly what we said in a news release last week.
``We're reiterating that point. We can assure the consumer that the seafood in our markets is safe, because we've closed the questionable stretch of the river to commercial fishing. That means no one is going to be harvesting fish from that stretch of the river and selling them.''
A 10-mile section of the lower Neuse River was closed to commercial fishing Thursday after an outbreak of a toxic algae killed fish in the area.
At noon today, three officials will eat fish for lunch to try to bolster consumer confidence in the state's seafood industry: fisheries Director Bruce L. Freeman, Joan Weld, assistant secretary for natural resources with the Department of Environment Health and Natural Resources, and Dr. Mike Moser, director of the North Carolina Division of Epidemiology.
This is the second time in about four years that state environment and health officials have tried to bolster the seafood market in northeastern North Carolina by publicly eating and endorsing the product.
But one Edenton fish dealer said it probably won't do much good, based on his previous experience.
In March 1991 state health Director Ronald J. Levine issued a health advisory warning people to limit consumption of catfish from the Chowan River because of dioxin concentrations found in fish there. Many consumers took the warning to mean they shouldn't eat any catfish.
To allay concerns about their products, Edenton fish dealer Murray L. Nixon and his son, Ricky, served fried Chowan River catfish to Levine and several area lawmakers to demonstrate that an occasional catfish meal was OK.
``I don't know if it did have an effect or not,'' the younger Nixon said Tuesday of his fish fry. ``But I don't think there was a whole lot of success.''
Nixon said that health advisories or warnings about any of North Carolina's waterways will ``make people leery of any of the state's seafood.'' Any news accounts, even favorable publicity, ``compounds people's perceptions,'' he said.
The Neuse River seafood lunch is being sponsored by the North Carolina Fisheries Association, the state's largest commercial fishing trade group with headquarters in New Bern.
Sandy Semans, spokesman for the association, said the group planned the event because it wants to spread the word that state health and environment officials aren't afraid to eat the seafood.
Seaman pointed out that closingan area ``that is less than 1 percent of the state's coastal fishing waters is not hampering the commercial fishing industry's ability to provide consumers with fresh, safe, quality seafood.''
Millions of fish have died in the Neuse River this summer, including more than 10 million in the past month, and some people who have come into contact with the water are reporting dizziness, rashes and sores.
Earlier this month, Levine issued a health warning cautioning people to avoid contact with the Neuse River near the fish kill and not to eat seafood caught in the immediate vicinity of the kill.
On Thursday Freeman halted commercial fishing on a 10-mile section of the lower Neuse River in response to growing consumer worries about the safety of the state's seafood.
Both the closure and the warning will be lifted when the state determines that there is no longer an outbreak of the toxic algae known as pfiesteria piscimorte in the area - probably three days after the last reported fish death, state officials have said.
JoAnn M. Burkholder, the North Carolina State University researcher who discovered the killer algae, said last week that the algae is generally not active when the water temperature drops. by CNB