Friday, May 23, 2008
James fish kill minor so far
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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When die-hard smallmouth bass angler John Ross of Daleville spent a recent day on the James River, saw three dead bass and didn't catch a single fish, he started to worry.
When he finished his day at Craig Creek and caught a bunch of bass, he got even more nervous.
Had the ongoing mysterious fish kill totally devastated the upper James?
No, says biologist Scott Smith of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
At least not yet.
Smith was on the river Tuesday, heading a DGIF crew using electroshocking gear to collect samples for a team of Virginia Tech and U.S. Geological Survey researchers who carefully examined the fish.
The shockers collected good numbers of fish at a site in Buchanan. About 40 percent of the fish had sores, Smith said.
But the fish, which including smallmouth bass, rock bass, suckers and fall fish, generally didn't appear as sick as those pulled from the James last year around this time.
"Most didn't look like it would be fatal," Smith said.
The group found only one dead fish, a 19-inch smallmouth.
Experts have not yet been able to determine what's causing the kills on the James and Shenandoah river systems.
Problems on the James and its Cowpasture tributary peaked last year in late May and early June, and that's when they have been at their worst on the Shenandoah system the past few years.
But Smith cautioned that it's too early to assume the problems will be minor on the James this year.
Water temperatures are lower this year than they were last May, so Smith said it's possible the peak of the problems is yet to come.
Those low water temperatures -- the river was 60 degrees Tuesday -- have delayed spawning. Smith said few of the female smallmouths collected had spawned.
Spawning is a physically stressful time for bass. Scientists wonder if there may be a correlation between the peak in spawning activity and the peak in the kills, thinking whatever is making the fish sick may take its hardest toll when the fish are in a weakened state.
More electroshock sampling efforts will be conducted in the coming weeks as the scientists track progression of the kill.
Smith also said he expects to get some feedback from the public after this weekend, which should be busy in terms of river use.
Citizens are encouraged to report sightings of sick or dead fish to the Shenandoah Fish Kill Task Force by e-mail at fishreports@deq.virginia.gov or phone (434) 525-7522.
"This weekend," Smith said, "Should tell us a lot."
