DATE: Thursday, October 2, 1997             TAG: 9710020551

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   48 lines

STATE LAWMAKERS LOBBY FOR GRANT TO STUDY, SOLVE PFIESTERIA ISSUE

Virginia's congressional delegation has asked for $2 million in federal funds next year to help combat a deadly microbe, Pfiesteria picicida, that is threatening fish in three state rivers that feed the Chesapeake Bay.

The request, in a letter released Wednesday, asks for money to hire eight new workers, bolster monitoring of shoreline pollution, control farm runoff suspected of igniting pfiesteria's toxic form, and expand university research.

Pfiesteria, a one-celled creature only discovered in recent years, is suspected of killing thousands of fish on the Maryland side of the Pocomoke River, and of showing up in the Rappahannock and Great Wicomico rivers.

While linked to memory loss and nausea in 23 Marylanders who came in contact with the Pocomoke, the microbe has not sickened anyone in Virginia. Still, the Eastern Shore river remains closed to fishing and human contact in Virginia and Maryland.

``In an effort to better respond to the unique circumstances surrounding the Pfiesteria outbreaks in Virginia, we would like to request federal assistance,'' reads the bipartisan letter, signed by 11 Virginia lawmakers in the U.S. House, including area representatives Bobby Scott, Owen Pickett, Norman Sisisky and Herb Bateman.

The request dovetails a letter sent last week to Washington by Gov. George F. Allen. The governor already has committed $800,000 in state money this year and $1.5 next year to study the mysterious microbe. But he wants federal aid as well to help fight a microorganism that has scared away seafood lovers and tourists.

Congressional staff said Wednesday that winning federal funds will be difficult. Lawmakers now are debating the details of the 1998 federal budget, and a request for more money at this late date is not likely to gain much support.

``They'll have a tough battle, for sure,'' said one staffer.

Also Wednesday, Allen's office announced a briefing on pfiesteria Friday at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The event, in Gloucester Point, will be followed by a fish fry, in which fresh seafood caught from the Chesapeake Bay will be cooked and eaten.

Allen has been criticized for not doing enough to dispel growing fears that pfiesteria is contaminating local seafood. Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, on the other hand, has boated on the Chesapeake and eaten oysters and other seafood, in an effort to show that many concerns are overblown.

The fish fry would seem directed at those critics who claim Virginia has not done its share of public information and salesmanship. KEYWORDS: PFIESTERIA

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