THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510280318
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Improving environmental conditions on the Neuse River earlier this week led state fisheries and health officials to lift restrictions Friday on fishing in a section of the waterway.
And they had good news for local fishermen - no added warnings were anticipated along other stretches of the river.
State health officials withdrew a health warning issued Oct. 6 for a nine-mile section of the Neuse River, and fisheries Director Bruce L. Freeman issued an order reopening a 10-mile section of the Neuse to fishing.
Millions of fish have died in the Neuse River this summer, including more than 10 million in the past 15 days, and some people who have come into contact with the water are reporting dizziness, rashes and sores.
Freeman's order reopening the Neuse River and its tributaries upstream from Slocum and Beard creeks was effective at 6 a.m. today.
``I feel confident that the fish harvested from the Neuse do not have the potential to cause any problems,'' Freeman said in a news release announcing his action. ``The public should feel comfortable that these fish are safe to eat.''
Freeman said he opened the area after samples taken by the Division of Marine Fisheries and the Division of Environmental Management showed that concentration of a toxic algae had dropped and fish were no longer dying in the section of the river.
Because a few sporadic fish kills continue on the river, state health officials continue to advise people to avoid contact with dead fish and avoid harvesting dead or dying fish for consumption by humans or animals.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the state's largest commercial fishing trade group said Friday the economic effects of the closure on the state's fishing industry will probably be limited to a few local fishermen and seafood dealers.
``I think the net effect won't be known until the dust settles,'' said Jerry Schill, executive director of the N.C. Fisheries Association. ``Locally, it hurt some of the local fishermen and some of the local seafood markets and some of them, pretty hard.''
He said, however, that the long-term effects of the closure and the health advisory on the state's fishing industry will probably be ``negligible in terms of the big picture.''
State fisheries officials said it's too early to tell the effects of the closure on the local economy, fisheries officials said, but the Neuse River accounted for 174,000 pounds of fish landed in October 1994 valued at $163,000.
Interviews with fishermen and others Friday indicated that seafood markets, tackle shops and guide services all along the state's coast had been affected by the health warning.
Tom Caroon, owner of a seafood market in Pamlico County, just downstream from the area of the fish kill, said Thursday that his retail sales are off about 60 percent in the last few weeks over this time last year.
And George Beckwith, a coastal fishing guide with offices in New Bern and Oriental, said he had received telephone calls from all over the Southeast and from as far away as Arizona from clients wondering if it would be safe to come to North Carolina to fish, or questioning whether the fish they had caught earlier are safe to eat. by CNB