Pollution Threatens Chesapeake’s Rockfish

March 11th, 2006 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

Water pollution brought a terminal disease to 70 percent of the rockfish population in Chesapeake Bay, according to a March 11 story on page one of the Washington Post. The infection imperils the species in the Chesapeake Bay, which is the most important fishery for rockfish (also called striped bass). It was the third most downloaded story on the Washington Post site that day. NRNS developed the exclusive and provided the experts for Elizabeth Williamson at the Post after a broader story on mysterious fish kills throughout the Eastern United States was developed for Elizabeth Shogren of NPR “All Things Considered.

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Bay’s Rockfish Wasting Away

January 24th, 2006 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

Mike Matsche, a fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, remembers a day in 1998 when the calls started coming in. Fishermen were finding some of their catch covered in lesions that looked like cigarettes had been snuffed out on their scales. The sores were showing up on one type of fish in particular: the bay’s famed striped bass, known as rockfish.

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A Rash of Mysterious Fish Kills

January 18th, 2006 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

When large numbers of dead fish turned up in the nation’s waterways, the reason was usually obvious.

If 10 million silvery-backed menhaden were floating belly up on North Carolina’s Neuse River, it was a safe bet there had been a manure spill at one of the nearby hog farms.

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