Dead crabs and fish

[jack1747]

Read "low oxygen" in crab news.

From CBF link below:
An estimated 88 billion pounds of animal manure is generated in the Bay's watershed each year. This waste contains nearly 600 million pounds of nitrogen, more than triple the nitrogen waste produced by the 16 million people living in the watershed. With animals more concentrated and the acreage of farmland available to use the manure shrinking, many areas have more manure than cropland or pastureland can use. Soil tests show that in some parts of the Eastern Shore, 90 percent of the soils need no additional phosphorus, and therefore no additional manure, to grow crops.  http://www.cbf.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7118&news_iv_ctrl=-1

All this talk and no action.  There are many more chicken houses on the ESVA than just two years ago.  The building of new chicken houses just keeps going on.  Each CH that you see while driving thru the eastern shore produces a hill of manure the size of a average 2 story house at least twice a year.  Where does all that manue go?

Next time your on the sure get off of rt 50 13 and 113.  Take a little ride round the back roads because the chicken houses that you see from the main roads are only the tip of the ice berg.  Drive past Tyson and Perdues plants.  They are hugh.  Running 24/7.  Last year in the local ESVA newspaper there was an artical about one of the two I cant remeber which dumping millions of gallons of waste into a local creek.  They got caught and was fined $40k.  $40k what does that mean to a multibillion dollar company?  It means they will do it again when the need arises.  At least make the big companys pay for the damage that they do.  We should stop the building of new Chicken Houses today.

[Crabpop]

Good point, Jack.  New chicken houses poppin' up all over the eastern shore of Maryland too.  I drive over to Cape Henlopen, DE a couple times a month to go clammin' and welkin' with the wife.  Chicken farms all along Route 404. Same area you have the Tuckahoe and Watts Creeks, the Choptank River, and countless other creeks, meandering though the farmland with those creeks linked to the Choptank and the Choptank emptying into the bay.  The physteria outbreaks of the past few years were strongly suspected to be directly related to manure dumping by chicken farms on the eastern shore.  What was done to control this?  Chicken farms made to clean up their act?  Moratorium on more chicken farms? Nope,  chicken farming is a big bucks industry with a very effective lobbying effort.  They win, we lose.  Heck, they even have us crabbers buying chicken to put in our traps and on our lines!  I do have a solution for people who eat chicken that will drastically reduce chicken sales for human consumption.  Now, you just line up every adult and child in the states of Maryland, Delaware, and Virgina, have them move single file through some of the chicken houses on the eastern shore, and then cap the tour with a visit to the Purdue and Tysons chicken processing plants.  The vast majority WILL NOT eat chicken again for a very long time .  Heck, if the crabs saw what was goin' on in these places they'd stop eatin' chicken too!

Crabpop

[lil miss crab]

im sorry to say it was on the news again tonight, here in RI we got washed up clams again    i dont know anything about chicken houses around, but i do know there are farms.

[cw4340]

lil miss you sure them clams didnt getwashed out of bottom in nor easter thats usally what happens and then they freeze and die when the get washed to the beach

[lil miss crab]

I actually have no idea cw, they never said what it was from...I only know they were wondering why this keeps happening this and last year

[mariner]

New Hard Clam Disease

The most recent discovery of a shellfish disease in Massachusetts was made in 1995. A new parasite, it has been infecting and killing both wild and cultured Massachusetts quahogs since at least 1992, but most likely even before then. The disease is known as QPX (quahog parasite unknown). Although the organism differs from the parasites infecting the oyster, the QPX parasite acts in a similar way to dermo and MSX and generally results in the death of the hard clam. QPX was first observed in New Brunswick, Canada in 1969. Since its discovery in Massachusetts, QPX has been found in Virginia (1996) and New Jersey (1997).

Dealing with Disease

In the cases of MSX, dermo, and QPX, it is unlikely that shellfish populations will naturally rid themselves of the diseases or that any attempts to eradicate them will succeed completely. Instead, it appears that shellfish managers will need to work around them. One way to do this is for managers to incorporate monitoring programs into their management plans. Farmers growing oysters and hard clams, on the other hand, may be able to control the impact of such diseases by incorporating subtle changes into their shellfish husbandry practices. Oyster growers, for example, found that if they moved their juvenile oyster seed into less saline waters for the first six months following the hatchery stage, the proliferation of the MSX parasite could be delayed long enough to allow the oyster to grow to a marketable size. It is worth noting that MSX, dermo, and QPX are not transmissable to human consumers and that these diseases alone do not compromise the taste or quality of the shellfish.

One possible management option for hard clam growers dealing with QPX is earlier marketing. In several southeastern U.S. states, farmers are allowed to market clams once they reach 3/4" valve width. These clams have been dubbed "pasta clams" because they are typically sold to restaurant chefs who use the clams in pasta dishes. This marketing tool is available only to farmed populations of clams and does not apply to wild populations, so as not to effect recruitment. This is an option for growers in Massachusetts whose clams are dying of QPX just before legal harvest size (1" valve width).

Disease Research

Research into improved husbandry techniques and other methods for improving survival rates for shellfish exposed to diseases such as MSX, dermo, and QPX, have been supported in large part by the National Sea Grant College Program and Sea Grant research taking place in individual states. Since 1990, the National Sea Grant College Program has sponsored a "National Initiative" focused on oyster disease research, and more recently, an initiative to address oyster disease concerns in the Gulf Coast states. As a result, significant break-throughs have been made in our understanding of oyster diseases and how to control or manage around them.

Because QPX is a relatively new problem facing shellfish growers and harvesters, the research response, thus far, has taken place at a fairly local level. On Cape Cod, for example, QPX was identified by WHOI Sea Grant Exension personnel working in conjunction with a research veterinarian and quahog farmers from Provincetown. In response to the high mortality rates in Provincetown's cultured quahog population, the WHOI Sea Grant Program responded immediately, contributing emergency response funds that permitted Woods Hole marine biologists and pathologists to identify the disease organism. Only after that was accomplished could resource managers and farmers attempt to minimize the impact of the disease on their quahogs.

Since that time, WHOI Sea Grant and other agencies, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have continued to fund research directed at understanding and controlling QPX. To date, the disease has been brought into the laboratory and can be grown in culture in the laboratory and outside of the quahog, a vitally important first-step in studying any new disease organism. In addition, efforts are underway to develop and test strains of quahogs that will be resistant to the QPX parasite. This was done successfully with oysters that are resistant to MSX.

Disease is a very important factor in resource management. Unfortunately it is often overlooked by resource managers due to their limited opportunity to observe wild shellfish stocks. Shellfish farmers, because they often work with a single species in a defined location, are keenly aware of the affects of disease. As is the case in agriculture or human health management, disease research is a never ending process. As disease organisms change and evolve, scientific research programs must adapt so that methods to counteract the devastating impact of disease may be developed.

For more information about the research or outreach projects profiled in Focal Points, contact WHOI Sea Grant at the address listed below.

[lil miss crab]

thanks for the info mariner, i guess that's what we have here

[jack1747]

Pollution and disease are two different things.

I have a few oysters in floats.  They have survived msx. The problem is that we can not eat them because of the toxins that they absorb from the water. I have to clean them often because of the sediment in the water.  It is just too much for them to handle naturally.  I hope that they are breeding.  At some point I will find a old shell rock and “release” them there.

[mariner]

Jack1747:

So true. Anyone that thinks differently just has to go to the Inner Harbor if they live in the Balto. area (hun) after a heavy summer rain and watch what comes from the storm drains. This is just a sample of what runs off farms and fields that do not follow terracing. Fertilizer takes away the oxygen and the list goes on and on. I am not a "greenie" but pollution is a he-- of a problem!

[jack1747]

Bringing this back to the top.  IT IS THE POLLUTION THATS KILLING THE BAY!
 

[madcrab]

  True, and I do believe this is the cause of all of our problems!!!!  

[jack1747]

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/hab/

hhttp://www.dailypress.com/news/yahoo/dp-44476sy0jul15,0,5165671.story?coll=dp-aol-yahoo-nws-hed

[jack1747]

   
Dont know why that last link didnt work, here is the article

Algae threat: Environmental group raises alarm
An environmental group raises the alarm about lower-than-normal oxygen levels in Virginia rivers, which threaten fish and bay health.

 
BY DAVE SCHLECK
247-7430

July 15, 2004

Virginia's rivers are showing unusually early signs of oxygen depletion this year, leading an environmental group to predict this will be a particularly bad year for the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Water samples collected in June show unhealthy oxygen levels for the entire length of the York River and parts of the Pamunkey and Rappahannock rivers. Jeff Corbin, senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said he fears a repeat of last year's "dead zone," where oxygen-starved water covered 40 percent of the bay.

"We're on track to having just about as bad a dead zone problem this year," said Corbin, who works for the region's largest environmental group. "That we see these conditions so early in the summer and so far up Virginia rivers is truly alarming."

State officials said that although water quality continues to be a problem in Virginia, it's too early to predict another sour year for the rivers and bay.

"It's premature to draw conclusions," said Bill Hayden, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. "This is not cause for alarm. It's cause for continuing the work we've been doing."

A variety of natural and manmade conditions cause the low oxygen levels. Rainfall washes pollutants called nutrients off farmland and urban areas into creeks and ditches that flow into rivers. Nutrients are found in animal and human waste. Sewage treatment plants contribute to the problem by discharging nutrients into rivers. The nutrients cause algae blooms that starve the water of oxygen when they decompose. Low oxygen can kill or stress sea life.

Although rainfall is near normal so far this year, Hurricane Isabel might have washed more pollutants into the rivers late last year. Plus, warm temperatures this spring could have caused algae to decompose faster - contributing to an earlier than normal problem with low oxygen.

In some cases, the problem is easy to see. A Chesapeake Bay Foundation employee spotted a brownish algae bloom stretching for more than 200 yards in the middle of the James River off Newport News last week. Corbin said crabbers are struggling to find good fishing grounds in Virginia's rivers. Charles "Pot" Landon, a Gloucester County waterman who crabs in the York, Ware and Severn rivers, said catches have been rotten so far this year.

"We haven't had this kind of trouble this bad before," he said.

The oxygen problem is unfortunate but not surprising, said Richard Batiuk, associate director for science for the Environmental Project Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program. The program is a voluntary effort by bay states to clean up the estuary and remove the Chesapeake from the federal impaired waters list.

"It should be a signal that this system has not recovered to the level that we need," Batiuk said. "At the same time, we're not saying the Chesapeake is taking a dramatic turn for the worse."

Based on the first round of summer water samples from the past two years, 43 percent of the bay had low or nonexistent oxygen last year compared with 28 percent of the bay this year. But the area of the bay that has no oxygen has grown slightly, Batiuk said.

State officials said Virginia is tackling the problem by drafting strategies to reduce river pollution and developing two sets of regulations designed to reduce the amount of nutrients flowing out of industrial and sewage treatment plants. But other state and federal regulatory agencies - and residents of the bay watershed itself - will have to share the burden of cleaning up the bay, which could cost as much as $18.7 billion according to government projections.

"These algae blooms are still going to continue to be a problem for the Chesapeake until all 15 million of us who live in the watershed get our nutrient pollution levels under control," Batiuk said.

[kingcrabber]

lets see how much "teeth" these so called new regulations have...especially against the "industrial "polluters ..big business has their hands in the pockets of these legislatures....we'll see,we'll see

[jack1747]

Last year in the local ESVA newspaper there was an artical about one of the two I cant remeber which dumping millions of gallons of waste into a local creek.  They got caught and was fined $40k.  $40k what does that mean to a multibillion dollar company?  It means they will do it again when the need arises.  At least make the big companys pay for the damage that they do.

Just wanted folks to read this one again

[kingcrabber]

like i said Jack..big business ...here in Philly we got the "pay-to-play" politians who are under investigation by the FBI..so you can just imagine what I think of politicians

[procrabber]

two issues:

1. water polution
2. pathogen polution carried by ship bilge water and by introduced crustaceans. dermo and others were brought here and are now wiping out native populations. we need to come up with ways to modify the immune system of the native species to make them disease resistant.

[jack1747]

do # 2 and your an instant zillionare

[procrabber]

do # 2 and your an instant zillionare

im doing what i can!

[Black Irish]

do # 2 and your an instant zillionare

It would seem to me that there should be an easy way to sanitize the bilge water before or during the dumping. UV light sterilization perhaps?   (I'll split the patent dough with ya, Jack  )

[procrabber]

do # 2 and your an instant zillionare

It would seem to me that there should be an easy way to sanitize the bilge water before or during the dumping. UV light sterilization perhaps?   (I'll split the patent dough with ya, Jack  )

too late now. you need  a time machine and a way to clean the bilge.  
if you make that time machine, go back and talk to my parents about having me adopted by the gates family

[jengirl1014]

Don't dump in sewers!  A lot of the sewers run straight to the Chesapeake.  Some are marked, but not all are.

[Pete Miller]

Yeah, pollution and disease are certainly 2 different things, but the stress the pollution puts on aquatics sure makes them more prone to disease.

I am not at all alarmed to hear of the low oxygen levels in the Bay and its Tributaries.  To my mind Isabel was to the DelMarVa as Floyd was to NC, except on a smaller scale.  All that water coming with Isabel coupled with all the pollutants(industrial, farming, and municipal) washing down and in probably left quite a layer of toxins and debris to be broken down.  We still have a very large dead zone in the Pamlico Sound that has not retreated to its smaller pre-Floyd size.  

I hate to be so pessimistic, but I am with KC-big business still does pretty much whatever it wants to the environment with very little repercussions to worry about.  

Hey BI, hate to break it to you, but the newer freighters have the UV sterilizers on board.  Its the 98% or so that have been around for more than 5 years that need them installed and operated properly.

[Black Irish]

That's always my luck Pete, a day late and a dollar short  

[jengirl1014]

Can you guys believe that when Captain John Smith first explored the Chesapeake Bay in the 1600s that he described it as being crystal clear and you could see straight to the bottom!?!?!  What did we do???

It's okay BI, I'll give you your dollar back!