#1330843 - Sun Sep 13 2009 09:48 AM
Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
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GalThatFishes
The man
Registered: Thu Sep 06 2007
Posts: 10917
Loc: 2A, 2B
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Water Quality Forum Talks Dunkard Creek Problem
Posted Friday, September 11, 2009
The Mon River Recreation and Commerce Committee met Friday morning at the Morgantown Municipal Airport.
Story by Macall Allen
MORGANTOWN -- The water quality forum opened discussion on the fish and muscles that were found dead in Dunkard Creek last week.
Representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection and the Division of Natural Resources are waiting on water sample results to come back from the lab.
During the forum, the DNR and DEP described what information they have gathered about the rust colored stream in Pentress.
Officials also reported there is no mine pool influence on Dunkard Creek and the mines are in compliance with permit limitations.
"We're going to review with all the interested parties what we know and what we don't know so we can address and identify the source of the problem and begin to fix this issue," says Barry Pallay, Mon River Recreation & Commerce Committee.
Biologist Frank Jernejcic says he received a call about possibly more dead fish.
He says they are trying to leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding out what happened.
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#1330878 - Sun Sep 13 2009 10:12 AM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: GalThatFishes]
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GalThatFishes
The man
Registered: Thu Sep 06 2007
Posts: 10917
Loc: 2A, 2B
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Dunkard Creek fish kill probed
9/12/2009 3:31 AM
By Bob Niedbala
Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
Pennsylvania and West Virginia natural resource agencies have been sampling water from Dunkard Creek to determine what might have caused a large fish kill in the stream first reported last week.
The kill is being investigated by several agencies butso far none has been able to identify the cause, said Carl Richardson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
"We're still trying to figure out just how large it is, the extent of the kill," Richardson said. The kill affected not only fish but other aquatic life such as mussels, he said.
The agencies also are attempting to determine the length of the stream that may have been affected, Richardson said.
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection began taking water samples when the kill was first reported Sept. 1, said Kathy Cosco, West Virginia DEP spokesman.
The department is just starting to analyze data and hopes to know more next week, she said. It's possible, however, the source may never be determined.
"It's like trying to solve a puzzle by putting together all the pieces," she said.
Cosco described the kill as large, citing reports that between 80 and 100 dead fish have been found along the stream from about Pentress, W.Va. downstream.
The agencies have contacted coal mines and other industries, including natural gas drillers, in the watershed to determine if they have been doing anything differently in regard to their discharges, she said. "We haven't cleared anybody yet," Cosco said.
Betty Wiley, president of the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association, said judging from information she has received, the kill is "massive."
She said she inspected the stream herself in two locations and saw dead fish. At one spot near the Buckeye Church on West Virginia Route 39 she counted about 20 dead fish floating and submerged in the water.
People have been describing the color of the water as having a "slightly reddish" tint to it, she said. What she observed, she said, "was not really red, but it didn't look right either."
People regularly fish in the creek and some are very upset about the kill, Wiley said.
"There hasn't been a fish kill in Dunkard for a long time," she said. "There hasn't been anything this extensive that I know of."
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency also are assisting in the investigation, according to Richardson.
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#1330882 - Sun Sep 13 2009 10:13 AM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: GalThatFishes]
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GalThatFishes
The man
Registered: Thu Sep 06 2007
Posts: 10917
Loc: 2A, 2B
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2T & E mussel species have been completely wiped out, and there are reports of mud puppy salamanders crawling on shore to die rather than to stay in the toxic water.
Conductivity was reportedly at 45,000.
A high reading is 1000.
They are now waiting to see the impact on the Mon.
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#1331366 - Sun Sep 13 2009 06:29 PM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: GalThatFishes]
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Wiz
enthusiast
Registered: Sun Sep 16 2007
Posts: 539
Loc: Georgia
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Which 2 mussels were wiped out? Were they federally or state listed. I thought I recalled Epioblasma triquetra being present in Dunkard. Do you know how many mussel species are/were currently known in the creek?
The chances of events like this happening are rather rare, but when they do occur, it takes decades to recover if ever. This makes me think about the post a few weeks ago regarding the gas wells.
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#1331674 - Sun Sep 13 2009 09:32 PM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: Wiz]
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GalThatFishes
The man
Registered: Thu Sep 06 2007
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Loc: 2A, 2B
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#1331696 - Sun Sep 13 2009 09:41 PM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: GalThatFishes]
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flocknocker
old hand
Registered: Wed Jan 02 2008
Posts: 1049
Loc: Somewhere,PA
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What a shame! What species of fish had been wiped out the most?
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#1331720 - Sun Sep 13 2009 09:52 PM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: flocknocker]
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GalThatFishes
The man
Registered: Thu Sep 06 2007
Posts: 10917
Loc: 2A, 2B
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Anything and everything in Dunkard. Dunkard is one of the better streams in the area. My guess is even the fish that are alive in the above pictures will mostly die.
They are severely stressed and were gulping oxygen from the surface. There are few tribs to Dunkard, and those that are there are small and large fish can't get up into them.
No deep pools to speak of so the water is still quite warm, and many of the tribs are already impacted with AMD.
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#1331737 - Sun Sep 13 2009 10:00 PM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: GalThatFishes]
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flocknocker
old hand
Registered: Wed Jan 02 2008
Posts: 1049
Loc: Somewhere,PA
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My dad retired from the Fish & Boat Commission. One year I helped on a manure and fertilizer spill that went into the creek and then fed into another creek. What a mess. I couldnt believe the scene.
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#1331772 - Sun Sep 13 2009 10:19 PM
Re: Total fish/mussel kill at Dunkard Creek
[Re: flocknocker]
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GalThatFishes
The man
Registered: Thu Sep 06 2007
Posts: 10917
Loc: 2A, 2B
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yeah- not much fun.
I cant believe all the dead fish and mudpuppies!
just a shame.
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