Fish kills cut deep into smallmouth, sunfish stocks in Shenandoah


By the Associated Press

Published July 20, 2005

RICHMOND, Va. -- Eighty percent of the adult smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish in the Shenandoah River have been killed by a mysterious illness, a state fisheries expert said.

The deaths appeared to peak in early June, said Steve Reeser, a biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The river still contains large numbers of young smallmouth bass as well as largemouth bass, catfish and other sunfish species unaffected by the disease, he said.

The game department and the Department of Environmental Quality are planning a meeting of state and private experts on studying water quality in the Shenandoah River watershed, he said.

"We felt that this is something that needed to be done," said Reeser, the game department's Shenandoah Valley fisheries biologist. "I think what will come out of that is some kind of research."

One factor to be probed: runoff from farms and development that washes into the rivers.

The illness turned up last year in the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, and this year in the South Fork.

Fishermen reported an unusually high number of dead fish and of catching smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish with lesions on them. Most of the fish with sores die of infections from common bacteria, Reeser said.

Fishing guides and others who make a living off the once plentiful waters of the Shenandoah have said they are feeling the effects of fish kills.