Page 8-B Troubled Waters: Controversy Continues Over Chowan River Algae Problem Continued From Page 7-B But to the west, the sounds are pea-soup green, matted by the massive algae blooms that have plagued the Chowan River each summer since 1972. That’s the vision—but today’s reality is bad enough. “You’ll see a motorboat go by here in the summer, and its wake will be green, not white,” Howard said recently, pointing toward the picture-postcard view of the wide and sluggish Chowan from his home at Arrowhead Beach. ‘Algae dies and rots’ “You open your windows and it smells like dead fish. Algae dies and rots, fish. You swim in if and it EXTRA STRENGTH ASPIRIN FREE PAIN RELIEF liiQiilj urn 100 CAPSULES Reg. Price J 5" Our Price s 4'° Mitchener’s 7 95 and Up Ben Riddick Jewelers South Broad Street Edenton, NC you can convert your home stains your bathing suit green.” Howard, who is president of the property owners’ association ’ for the beach located neaf'Valhalla, lives about 75 nfiles from the Atlantic. Tfl ; The Chowan 1 algae blooms in the summfif because the river is overripe with phosphorus and nitrogen. These nutrients can stimulate the five species of blue-green algae, or aquatic plants, living in the Chowan to massive growth, given warm weather and ample sunlight. Much of the phosphorus and nitrogen comes from fertilizer runoff from far ming and waste from municipalities and in dustries like the CF In dustries fertilizer plant near Tunis and the Union Camp Corp. pulp mill just over the line in Virginia. There are indications other rivers leading into the state’s sounds are going sour. For the first time last similar algae blooms were noted in the Neuse and Pamlico rivers, which feed Pamlico Sound. At a meeting next Thursday, the N. C. En vironmental Management Commission is expected to be told th£t the coastal area has the tjgjpst critical water qualitymoblem in the state. say the algae blooms not only mar the rivers’ recreation potential but have affected North annual fishing industry. The N. C. Wildlife Com mission reported last August that red sore disease, a bacterial in fection that can kill fish, had reached epedemic pro portions in Albemarle and Currituck sounds and Chowan and Perquimans rivers. The disease is thought to be linked with deteriorating water quality. Scientists believe the number of disease-fighting white blood cells decline in fish when water quality is poor while the concentration of Aeromonas hydrophilia, the bacteria in water thought to cause the disease, increases. “If I made you stand outside in the cold without your coat on all day, you’d be more susceptible to getting a cold,” said Harold B. Johnson of Elizabeth City, area coordinator for the N. C. Division of Marine Fisheries. “It’s the same with fish. If you increase the stresses on them, they are more likely to become infected.” Johnson and other fisheries officials inspect commercial fish catches for NOTICE The Edenton-Chowan Board Os Education Will Make Up Its Regular Monthly Meeting, Missed Due To Snow, At 7:30 \ ; P M March 18 At Chowan High School. * f vn'F^ • - tUJ t * 4 *■»♦>»!, C)ft|.' it THE CHOWAN HERALD the disease, which leaves red lesions on the [Jodies of fish and can eventually kill fish through internal hemorrhaging. Johnson said that five years ago it was unusual to find 35 per cent of a catch from Albemarle Sound affected by red sore disease. During the past year, the division found numerous catches more than 95 per cent infected. Fishermen in Currituck Sound recently began a petition drive seeking a man-made inlet to the ocean there to improve water quality and commercial fishing. That area is also affected by dense growths of Eurasian milfoil, also an aquatic plant. When the algae blooms, oxygen levels in the water drop dramatically and that can kill fish. The Chowan is the main spawning stream for river herring, a commercial fish that migrates from the qcean upstream to tributaries in the spring. Young herring travel downstream in the fall, passing through the algae rich and oxygen-poor waters. State fisheries officials say that in 1969, 20 million pounds of river herring were caught by commercial fishermen in the state. The catch has decreased steadily each year, with only 5 million pounds caught last year. Other problems are beginning to be noticed. In the Roanoke River, which feeds into Albemarle Sound, striped bass egg counts have declined significantly during the past five years. And freshwater runoff from agricultural ditching, primarily in the area of the state’s so-called super farms, has reduced the salt content of rivers and bays. This has affected significantly the saltwater shellfish nurseries in the lower Pamlico and Pungo rivers and in Rose and Swanquarter bays, ac cording to state en vironmental officials. One-third of the state’s Coastal Plain has been artificially drained and another 40 per cent could be drained, according to N. C. State University studies. Freshwater runoff has in creased by three to five times during storms, ac cording to studies by the Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North Carolina. “Algae blooms and the red sore disease in the Albemarle are just symp toms of a broader picture of deteriorating water quality,” said Johnson of the Division of Marine Fisheries. “You look at some of these things in the other areas, and it just makes you wonder what’s in store for, say, Pamlico Sound.” Shallow depths a problem The shallow depths of Eastern North Carolina’s sounds also pose a problem. Rivers flow into them slowly, almost like streams feeding large lakes instead of an ocean. Albemarle Sound is only about 20 feet deep at its center while the channel at Oregon Inlet is about five feet deep. The rivers and sounds do not benefit from the natural flushing action of the Atlantic that cleans most rivers. uPTosooHir CASHBACKfr Cash hack on high gas mileage cars... direct to yon from Lmcoln-Mercury Division. cash rebate to you on every new Cougar XR-7 A cash rebate to yjUu nrvf epa rjo est / < est « se * Si coats - • - on parade now at Woodland £ W Woodland Dress Shop | [ \ y 108 South Woodland Street J Hertford, NC I its limits so nutrient loading and that has caused the massive algae growths. Witherspoon and other scientists hope to develop a nutrient budget for the Chowan. He hopes that state can prevent the massive algae growths by limiting the addition of phosphorus and nitrogen to less than the critical amount needed for blooms. “It will take years to clean up the Chowan, but the problem can be solved, given the time and the resources and the very clear B FURNITURE D OUTLET, □ INC. 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