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Old 08-07-2008, 12:06 PM
 
577 posts, read 1,896,258 times
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River keeper blames man for pollution and thinks state is covering it up to save tourism and growth in the area. Local: Second fish kill found--nearly 4 million reported in Pamlico River | fish, algae, baldwin : Sun Journal (http://www.newbernsj.com/news/fish_41476___article.html/algae_baldwin.html - broken link)
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Old 08-07-2008, 04:40 PM
 
Location: Morehead City, NC
1,681 posts, read 6,007,475 times
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Seems we've been down this path before. From a post I made here at CD on 10-19-2007
//www.city-data.com/forum/coast...ern-pines.html

"If you track the fish kills in the Neuse/Pamlico area you will see that most occurr during August and September. The reason why is that water temperatures are the highest then. The higher the water temperature the lower the disolved oxygen in the water. Delicate fish such as menhadden can not tolerate these conditions. They become susceptible to disease (This is what creates most of the "Phisteria Hysteria") and usually the fish just suffocate.
It is not uncommon to see schools of menhadden at the surface of the water-especially in the mornings-simply trying to breathe. Another phenom that happens when disolved oxygen is low is thing called a "flounder walk". This when flounders, come up off the bottom and swim just under the surface to breath.
The fish that die are usually juvenille. So when you here reports of 5,000 or 10,000 fish kills-You probably could put the entire lot of them on your desk top.
Fish kills due to lack of disolved oxygen in the water is an annual event, a natural event. Phisteria related kills are extremely rare. So rare that I can't remember when the last time a fish kill was attributed to it"
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Old 08-07-2008, 08:59 PM
 
Location: Cape Carteret, NC
713 posts, read 3,913,805 times
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Default That's a lot of dead fish

Quote:
Originally Posted by NC man View Post
River keeper blames man for pollution and thinks state is covering it up to save tourism and growth in the area. Local: Second fish kill found--nearly 4 million reported in Pamlico River | fish, algae, baldwin : Sun Journal (http://www.newbernsj.com/news/fish_41476___article.html/algae_baldwin.html - broken link)
This a quote from the article
Quote:
The Pamlico River Rapid Response Team is investigating the fish kill near Washington. An estimated 3.9 million menhaden, croakers and spots were floating on a four-mile stretch between Broad Creek and Edgewater Beach. The fish covered nearly three-fourths of the width of the mile-wide river, said Susan Massengale of N.C. Division of Water Quality.
Perhaps the cooler weather will help.
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Old 08-08-2008, 08:23 AM
 
577 posts, read 1,896,258 times
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This is also a quote from article: The state is full of crap," Baldwin said. "They don't want to lose tourism in the area so they don't want everyone talking about algae and dead fish. They want to put a band-aid over it, hold their breath and hope things don't get worse.

"They want to pretend this is natural, but it's not. We (humans) are very much the problem."

I spend alot of time on the river and sound and this has been a problem for as long as I can remember but it did let up the past few years and now it is getting worse again and its hard to not credit increased growth and hog waste up stream. This needs to be addressed or the area suffer no one wants to live on a river of dead fish and human and hog waste.
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Old 08-08-2008, 08:59 AM
 
Location: Morehead City, NC
1,681 posts, read 6,007,475 times
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Preserving, protecting and improving water quality is paramount! All efforts should be made to preserve it. BUT-Don't try to parlay a natural annual event into some man made generated occurence.

From NC State University:
Fact Sheet
Estuarine Fish Kills in North Carolina

Context and History
Summer weather conditions in North Carolina and most other southern states create water quality conditions that can be severely stressful to estuarine fish species, particularly the Atlantic menhaden that inhabits the coastal areas in dense schools. When freshwater inflow to the estuaries decreases as the result of lower rainfall, estuarine waters are less well mixed and form stratified layers. Lighter freshwater lies on top of layers of denser, heavier saltwater.

As temperatures increase, water's ability to hold oxygen decreases and hot, windless conditions reduce the physical aeration of waters. The bottom, salt layer of water is cut off from a supply of oxygen and frequently experiences a dramatic loss of oxygen content

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recognized these conditions as the leading causes of major fish kill events among 22 coastal states from 1980-1989 with the Atlantic Menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), among other small, schooling fish being the most affected in estuarine areas

Complete Article:
Fact Sheet
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Old 08-08-2008, 09:25 AM
 
36 posts, read 185,889 times
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Default Both are right

I agree that the cause of the fish kills is a lack of oxygen on the bottom salty layer. Sure the elevated temperature of the water hinders its ability to hold oxygen but the increased hog waste which feeds an algea bloom which ends up using oxygen when the algea dies results in the secondary cause of low oxygen. Both the high temperatures and high pollution from hog waste contribute to the problem.
You can't do anything about the temperature of the water but perhaps more can be done to curb the amount of hog waste leaching into the Neuse. As a future New Bern resident (hoping to retire soon) I would love to see more legal attention being put on hog waste treatment.
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Old 08-08-2008, 12:03 PM
 
Location: Morehead City, NC
1,681 posts, read 6,007,475 times
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Retirein11,
I would pay attention to the people poo more so than the pig poo. A couple of big new upstart subdivisions in the area (New Bern/Pamlico County) are in deep, well, huh, "stuff" right now due to their septic plans and another big development has just re-applied for a different permit because they can't afford the original septic they were approved for before construction.
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Old 08-16-2008, 09:09 AM
 
Location: New Bern, NC
33 posts, read 105,827 times
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Default Growing Up on the River

When I was growing up on the Trent River, I would have to have my "swimming shot" before we could go into the water. I think it was typhoid +. Whenever someone would criticize the quality of the water, my father would tell them it is cleaner than it was when he was growing up. They used to dump raw sewage directly into the rivers.
Yes we do need to make sure our rivers are clean. It was the best childhood anyone could have on that river and I want my son and his children to have the opportunity to enjoy it as I.

My brother wrote the attached to my mother about "Growing Up in New Bern".
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Growing Up In New Bern.pdf (119.3 KB, 290 views)
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Old 08-19-2008, 06:36 AM
 
Location: Morehead City, NC
1,681 posts, read 6,007,475 times
Reputation: 1277
A very interesting site on, "fish kills and fish lesions (that) were produced by coastal enrichment of nutrients and consequent Pfiesteria blooms"
Taking the Pulse of Our Ocean - Ecosystem Health

I have always found that statements of gloom and doom and the sky is falling the easiest to find on the internet. They are usually the first reported by news organizations.
Digging is usually required to get the facts of a situation.
Bill
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