Biological Hazard - State of Pennsylvania, Newville [Green Spring Trout Farms] : Mass Die Off ( Fish )

 

Earth Watch Report  -  Biological Hazards

 
NEWVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) -
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Biological Hazard

USA

State of Pennsylvania, Newville [Green Spring Trout Farms]

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RSOE EDIS

Biological Hazard in USA on Tuesday, 11 March, 2014 at 11:10 (11:10 AM) UTC.

Description
March 1 is the beginning of the season at Green Spring Trout Farms, but right now instead of harvesting, they are doing serious damage control after nearly 10,000 fish mysteriously died. "I don't think anyone would ever do something like this on purpose," hatchery owner Doug Holt said. He suspects manure runoff from one of several farms in the Newville area may have seeped into the underground spring that supplies his water. Complicating the issue, he said, is the high amount of limestone in that part of Cumberland County. "Somebody found a sinkhole with their manure and I don't how much of it had to run in for this to happen, but you know, it's unfortunate." He's now borrowed about 20 aerators to continually pump water into troughs for his surviving fish, which are swimming in murky water that is normally crystal clear. "They're actually picking the water up and splashing it back onto the surface of the raceway to add oxygen to increase oxygen levels in the water to keep the fish alive," he said. The Pa. Department of Environmental Protection is investigating and has run field tests at the North Newton Township farm twice so far. A spokesperson told abc27 they have discovered a definite contamination, but have not yet pin-pointed the source. Holt said a Shippensburg University professor's tests have already returned a positive result for bacteria found in manure, which makes sense since farmers usually begin spreading in the beginning of March. Holt said the loss of the fish has already cost him about $20,000, plus fuel and electricity bills are in the hundreds each day. He said he hopes to soon see an end in sight. "If we can't supply the fish when people want them, they're going to go elsewhere and we lose the business anyway," he said. "So it's kind of a compounded issue." Holt purchased the farm in 2012, but has worked there for the past 15 years. He said he has never experienced anything like this as long as he's been there.
Biohazard name:	Mass. Die-off (fishes)
Biohazard level:	2/4 Medium
Biohazard desc.:	Bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans, or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting, such as hepatitis A, B, and C, influenza A, Lyme disease, salmonella, mumps, measles, scrapie, dengue fever, and HIV. "Routine diagnostic work with clinical specimens can be done safely at Biosafety Level 2, using Biosafety Level 2 practices and procedures. Research work (including co-cultivation, virus replication studies, or manipulations involving concentrated virus) can be done in a BSL-2 (P2) facility, using BSL-3 practices and procedures. Virus production activities, including virus concentrations, require a BSL-3 (P3) facility and use of BSL-3 practices and procedures", see Recommended Biosafety Levels for Infectious Agents.
Symptoms:
Status:	confirmed

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Nearly 10,000 fish turn up dead at Newville hatchery

Posted: Mar 10, 2014 9:50 PM CST Updated: Mar 10, 2014 9:54 PM CST

By Megan Healey - bio | email

NEWVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) -
March 1 is the beginning of the season at Green Spring Trout Farms, but right now instead of harvesting, they are doing serious damage control after nearly 10,000 fish mysteriously died.
"I don't think anyone would ever do something like this on purpose," hatchery owner Doug Holt said.
He suspects manure runoff from one of several farms in the Newville area may have seeped into the underground spring that supplies his water. Complicating the issue, he said, is the high amount of limestone in that part of Cumberland County.
"Somebody found a sinkhole with their manure and I don't how much of it had to run in for this to happen, but you know, it's unfortunate."
He's now borrowed about 20 aerators to continually pump water into troughs for his surviving fish, which are swimming in murky water that is normally crystal clear.

Read More Here




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Cause of massive Newville-area fish kill proving difficult to determine

Doug Holt said he battling to save the remaining fish at his Green Springs Trout Farms in Newville. (Jeremy Arias, PennLive.com)

By Matt Miller | mmiller@pennlive.com

on March 10, 2014 at 1:10 PM, updated March 10, 2014 at 10:31 PM

The cause of a major fish kill at a private Newville-area trout hatchery is proving to be elusive, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection said Monday.

Lisa Kasianowitz said experts from DEP and the Cumberland County Conservation District have twice investigated the problem reported this month by Green Spring Trout Farms.
Both investigations on March 2 and Sunday showed lethally low dissolve oxygen levels in the spring that feeds the hatchery, but it could not be determined what caused the dearth of oxygen that was asphyxiating droves of fish, she said.
"No immediate source of the contamination was identified," Kasianowitz said in an e-mail.

Read More Here.....

Related articles

• Newville trout hatchery owner reports thousands of fish deaths
• Thousands of fish dying after possible contamination
• Cause of massive Newville-area fish kill proving difficult to determine
• Low oxygen may have led to fish deaths at North Newton hatchery

Biological Hazard : New Zealand, Southland, Nelson [Maitai River] : Mass Fish Die Off

Earth Watch Report

Video  00:08 
MARTIN DE RUYTER/FAIRFAX NZ



Video  00:18 
MARTIN DE RUYTER/FAIRFAX NZ
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Biological Hazard

New Zealand

Southland, Nelson [Maitai River]

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Biological Hazard in New Zealand on Friday, 22 November, 2013 at 08:14 (08:14 AM) UTC.

Description
Thousands of dead fish have been washed up along the edges of Maitai River in Nelson. The Nelson City Council was advised of the situation by a witness this morning. It's not yet known what caused the deaths, but the council is investigating a possible chemical spill. The council has confirmed it appears the fish got caught up in dirty water, as the fresh water fish in the same area seem to be OK. Fish and Game field officer for the Marlborough region, Lawson Davey says it's the biggest fish kill he's seen. "The tide was coming in and gulls were having a field day. The tide's just coming in and there's a whole lot of other pilchards and we've seen a few eels and other things feeding on the dead fish." The fish were found near the Trafalgar Street bridge. Fishing has been banned from the lower reaches of the Maitai River in Nelson, after the discovery of thousands of dead fish. The Nelson City Council's asking residents to avoid fishing in the area, following the unexplained death of pilchards. Samples of fish, water and sediment have been sent for testing, with results expected late next week. Council spokeswoman Angela Ricker says the public health risk is probably low but they're taking a precautionary approach until more is known.
Biohazard name:	Mass Die-off (Fishes)
Biohazard level:	2/4 Medium
Biohazard desc.:	Bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans, or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting, such as hepatitis A, B, and C, influenza A, Lyme disease, salmonella, mumps, measles, scrapie, dengue fever, and HIV. "Routine diagnostic work with clinical specimens can be done safely at Biosafety Level 2, using Biosafety Level 2 practices and procedures. Research work (including co-cultivation, virus replication studies, or manipulations involving concentrated virus) can be done in a BSL-2 (P2) facility, using BSL-3 practices and procedures. Virus production activities, including virus concentrations, require a BSL-3 (P3) facility and use of BSL-3 practices and procedures", see Recommended Biosafety Levels for Infectious Agents.
Symptoms:
Status:	confirmed

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Spill suspected in large fish kill

BILL MOORE
 

MYSTERY: Some of the thousands of dead fish lining the edges of the Maitai River this morning.

Nelson City Council is warning people to avoid fishing the Maitai River after thousands of fish were found dead along its edges this morning.
Seagulls have been feasting on the fish, which were killed by what Fish and Game field officer Lawson Davey suspected was a chemical spill.
The avenue of death stretched from below the Queen Elizabeth II Drive bridge to beyond the footbridge linking Paru Paru Rd with Trafalgar Park.
A council spokeswoman said the risk to public health is probably low, but people should avoid fishing that section of the river ''for the next few tides''.
Davey said the dead fish were one or two marine species ranging from tiny up to about 15 centimetres, and not the yellow-eyed mullet frequently seen in the river's lower reaches.
Shortly after arriving on the scene, Davey hadn't seen any dead trout or eels, but he said that judging by what he had found already, whatever killed the fish would have taken out all species in the vicinity.
He speculated that a chemical spill into Saltwater Creek, which runs alongside Haven Rd at the Trafalgar Centre and joins the Maitai, might have been the cause, with the affected fish then washed upriver and left by the tide.
"There's dead fish everywhere. It's the biggest fish kill I've seen.


Read More Watch Video  Here
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Related articles

• Spill suspected in large fish kill
• Thousands of dead fish discovered
• River washup still mystery

MASS FISH DIE-OFF: Thousands Of Fish Dead In Dried Up Deschutes River In Oregon!

Andre Heath


 

Published on Oct 23, 2013

The CELESTIAL Convergence | http://thecelestialconvergence.blogsp...

October 23, 2013 - UNITED STATES - The search is on to find answers to why so many fish have been found dead in a dried-up channel of the Deschutes River southwest of Bend.

Dropping water levels in the Deschutes trapped the fish in a channel near Lava Island resulted in the death of hundreds if not thousands of fish. But officials said water levels are routinely lowered at this time of year, and this result appeared to be new and unexpected.

Kim Brannock, who moved to Bend from Portland a few months ago, said she was running Thursday on the river trail when she noticed very little water between the banks.

"As I came up and noticed that the side channel, which is pretty significant when the water is coming through, was completely empty," Brannock said. "I knew that there had to be a lot of dead fish."

She was right: Piles of trout and whitefish could be seen up and down the dry channel.

"It broke my heart to see that many fish, also to see really like vibrant, really big trout too, that just laid there and suffered," Brannock said.

She added that several people had stopped to take pictures while others tried to save some of the fish from a pool of water that was badly depleted of oxygen.

After several calls to friends and family, Brannock and her husband, Lee, decided they would go back to the pool early Friday morning to try and save as many fish as possible.

"People were kind of laughing, 'Oh you're going to go down there and save a few fish.' I was like, 'Yeah, because it's about trying to make a difference,'" Brannock said.

Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, Brannock, her husband and daughter, along with a neighbor, hiked in to the pool.

"We found this pool shortly afterwards, which last night was at least like another 18 inches higher, and it was filled with fish," Brannock said.

For several hours Friday, the team, along with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, moved 500 to 600 fish from the shrinking pool, nearly a quarter of a mile to the main channel of the Deschutes. ODFW officials estimated there were about 3,000 whitefish and sculpin found dead in five pools that had gone or were going dry.

For the last few days, the water level has been dropping on the Central Oregon river.

"At the end of irrigation season, we'll drop reservoir outflows down to begin storing water through the storing season throughout the winter," said Oregon Water Resources Region Manager Kyle Gorman.

Water managers say because Wickiup Reservoir is so low, they are not releasing much downstream.

"Compared to the previous two years, we had to drop the outflow down to fulfill water rights," Gorman said.

The most puzzling thing: Water managers say they've done nothing different than in years past -- and they also noted this isn't the worst it's been, in terms of river levels.

"Hopefully, somebody will figure out what did happen (to the fish) this year, as to previous year,s and then find a solution so it doesn't happen again," Gorman said.

Many observers say it's the first time they've seen anything like this.

"I sort of consider this community all about wildlife and the outdoors," Brannock said. "It kind of feels like a dirty little secret to me. I'm kind of surprised, disappointed for sure."

Related articles

• Hundreds of fish found dead in dried-up river channel
• Thousands of fish die as water drops in Deschutes
• C.O. anglers upset over big Deschutes fish kill
• ODFW weighs emergency Deschutes fishing closure
• Family Tries To Save Fish Trapped By Low Water