Rockbridge fish kill raises questions

By: Media General News Service | Lynchburg News and Advance
Published: March 22, 2008

The fish kills may be back.
A fisherman observed about 20 dead smallmouth bass — most over a foot long — in the James River between Balcony Falls and Snowden in the Rockbridge County area Sunday.
The fisherman reported it to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality late Wednesday night, Bill Hayden, a spokesman for the DEQ, said Friday.
Though the fish kill is a small one, the DEQ has been bracing for such a report because similar fish kills have occurred every spring on the Shenandoah and other rivers, such as the James.
Hayden said fish biologists were on the river Friday looking for the kill. “We haven’t seen anything yet,” Hayden said. “But we’re certainly on the lookout to see what we can find.”
The fish were floating in about 3 to 6 feet of water. Because the fisherman was unsure whether there was a risk in handling the dead fish, he did not try to bring any aboard his boat, officials said.
The fisherman, who had been angling in the river section for several weeks, said fishing had been very good and that the fish appeared healthy, with good body mass, officials said.
The dead fish were found just where the Maury River flows into the James. State officials plan to search the Maury to see whether other fish have died on it.
Scientists have no firm answer as to why hundreds of smallmouth bass and sunfish have been dying on rivers such as the Shenandoah and James. Scientists believe the fish kills may be triggered by multiple causes, such as a combination of pollutants and pathogens.
Investigators are also looking at whether heavy metals or pesticides in the water could be killing the fish.
w Santos is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Rockbridge fish kill raises questions

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