
DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997              TAG: 9704170380

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   97 lines

DISEASED FISH NEAR BAY RAISE SOME CONCERNS A BILLION FISH IN NORTH CAROLINA HAVE DIED WITH SIMILAR SYSTOMS.

Fish in an estuary of the Chesapeake Bay are dying with symptoms similar to those inflicted by a single-celled predator that has killed more than a billion fish in North Carolina since 1990.

Watermen say they are finding fish with large, round ulcers in the Pocomoke Sound, just across the Virginia border in Maryland, but scientists are not sure what is killing them.

So far the problem is more of a mystery than an epidemic, and no one is concluding yet that there is any threat to the Chesapeake Bay fishery.

Maryland scientists say the explanation could be as simple as fungus or bacteria in the water.

``This is not necessarily a panic situation,'' said Steve Jordan, head of the Oxford, Md., lab where the affected fish are being studied. ``There's a lot of sick-fish hysteria going around.''

One microscopic predator, named pfiesteria piscicida, has killed every marine animal to which scientists have exposed it, including fin fish, crabs and scallops. The organisms stun their prey, eat holes in their flesh, and reproduce as the fish die.

After an outbreak in North Carolina, bulldozers had to clear the dead fish from the shoreline. Some scientists are concerned pfiesteria may even be a human health hazard.

In Maryland, ``We already know the menhaden have something,'' said Dr. Eric May, who has seen some of the ulcerated fish and has launched a study to find more.

May is chief of the aquatic animal health division of Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. His laboratory in Oxford received samples of affected fish from the Pocomoke last October.

``The lesions were unique,'' he said. ``Kind of like punching holes in the fish.''

Last month, Maryland watermen again found ulcerated fish in the estuary. May said he has not seen them. He has launched a five-week study to look for affected fish and take samples of the lesions.

Those samples will be sent to the Animal Health Laboratory of the state Department of Agriculture in College Park. Once the disease organisms are grown out, they will be sent to Edward Noga at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine for identification.

``Then we will define if there's anything we can do about it,'' May said.

If it's environmentally related, it could be a chronic problem, he said. But it could be something that will just pass with time.

JoAnn Burkholder, co-discoverer of pfiesteria, wonders if the tiny organism was transformed into a killer by pollution. She has linked pfiesteria to health problems in fishermen: open sores, disorientation, nausea and memory loss.

``I really do wish people would send me some samples (from Maryland) so I could identify them,,'' said Burkholder, who works at N.C. State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Botany.

Burkholder's research indicates that the tiny creatures proliferate and take on a deadly form when exposed to high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous - byproducts of human and animal waste.

She and others believe the organism became a problem in North Carolina waters as the state's hog farming industry and population rose dramatically over the past decade. It has left millions of menhaden, shad and flounder dead and rotting on the shores of the Neuse and New rivers.

Studies in recent years have found pfiesteria in the Rappahannock and Choptank Rivers, estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay.

Historically, pfiesteria has wreaked havoc on the menhaden fishery. And Virginia is home to two of the nation's largest menhaden fleets. In 1994, the last year for which figures are available, the menhaden industry brought $24.6 million into the state, creating the equivalent of 329 full-time jobs.

Menhaden season on the Chesapeake starts in May, and so far there is no evidence of a widespread problem in the Bay stock.

Joe Desfosse, who coordinates the menhaden fishery management for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, said the stock is very healthy right now.

``There's a lot of fish out there,'' he said. Desfosse's group hasn't heard of any ulcerative mycoses in the Chesapeake. Neither has Joe Smith, who supervises the menhaden port samplers for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

So, do a few dead fish in Pocomoke herald another pfiesteria-caused disaster?

``We can't rule anything out at this point,'' Jordan said. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Above, Neuse River keeper Rick Dove, wearing a rubber glove to avoid

skin contact, takes a sample from the river after the biggest fish

kill in North Carolina history in October, 1995. Millions of fish in

North Carolina's estuaries are turning up dead, with open sores

caused by a microorganism called pfiesteria. Dr. JoAnn Burkholder,

left, with N.C. State University, was one of the researchers who

discovered the parasite. Some scientists suspect it may prey on

humans, too.

Map/Eastern Shore

Pocomoke River KEYWORDS: FISH KILL MARYLAND NORTH CAROLINA