Locals Devastated By Middle River Fish Kill

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Scott Sewell was nearly in tears last week after taking a closer look at sections of the Middle River that he’s fished and called home for most of his life. Everywhere he looked, dead fish were floating or lay lifeless on shore, their eyes glassy and color fading.

The river he’d helped restore life to through strategic post-tournament releases and privately funded stocking efforts suddenly seemed lifeless.

A tip from a fishing buddy two weeks ago alerted Sewell that something was terribly wrong with the creeks that empty into the Middle River, which in turn empties into Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. Sewell went immediately to the launch ramp at Wilson Point Park and saw hundreds, if not thousands, of fish of all sizes and species either in distress or already dead. Bass, bluegill, crappie, pickerel, carp – nothing seemed immune to whatever caused the massive die-off.

“I can’t even put into words how sick I was,” Sewell said. “I’m getting numb to it now because it’s been several days, but I had tears in my eyes. To see all levels of the food chain just gone and the bottom just covered with minnows, bluegill, bass and dead pickerel. It’s sickening.”

Sewell immediately alerted the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Department of the Environment (DOE) and three days of sample collection and testing followed. According to published reports, officials are estimating that more than 100,000 fish have died and preliminary testing is pinning the cause on a strain of algae that produces a toxin that inhibits a fish’s ability to uptake oxygen through their gills. There is no indication that the toxin is harmful to people or to other animals.

According to an update on the investigation issued last Saturday by the state DOE, an analysis of water samples and fish tissue showed the presence of the dinoflagellate Karlodinium veneficum, with cell counts high enough to produce the toxin. The release of the toxin appears to have been exacerbated by large amounts of the algae dying off simultaneously. Subsequent analysis showed that the cell count levels of the algae appeared to be diminishing.

“Blooms of this type of algae are typically seen in the late spring or summer months,” the release stated. “The warm weather this fall might have allowed the algae to survive and grow, and recent drops in the water temperature might have caused the algae to die.”

Additional samples were taken this week, but results were still pending.

“At this time, we do not have any confirmed information that changes the preliminary findings,” Jay Apperson, deputy director of communications for the DOE, told BassFan on Tuesday.

Sewell said the affected area includes Cow Pen Creek and also stretched to Norman, Hopkins and Dark Head Creeks, in the Hawthorne area of Middle River. It’s not far – roughly 2 miles – from where Aaron Martens fished en route to his wire-to-wire victory at the Chesapeake Bay Elite Series tournament last summer.

Labor of Love

Sewell, a retired Maryland state trooper who’s served as conservation director for Maryland’s B.A.S.S. Nation for the past 15 years, has been documenting the fish kill on a daily basis. He’s posted pictures and videos to his Facebook page and has personally escorted field officers from the DOE and members of the local media on the water to give them a closer look at the affected areas.

Below is a video Sewell posted to Facebook on Wednesday of a small feeder creek where thousands of dead fish were found:

Fish kills are nothing new around the Chesapeake Bay – the state of Maryland says there's been about 80 cases in 2015 – but Sewell and other local anglers said they’ve seen nothing of this magnitude since a similar die-off about 15 years ago.

“There’s been fish in there, but nothing like this year,” said Danny Rodriguez, who hails from Monkton, Md., and has fished the Middle River for more than 40 years. “Tournaments were being won out of Middle River. The grass and water were beautiful. I’ve told other people the Middle River looked like a nursery this year. It was just loaded with baby bluegill and perch. It was alive.”

Sewell is part of the reason the fishery has bounced back. He has spearheaded private stocking efforts and encouraged anglers to release fish caught in bass tournaments in and around the Middle River to help improve the quality of fishing.

“I’ve been heading up a stocking effort in that river for 15 years and for the last 4 years, we’ve been buying adult fish through money raised with private donations,” he said. “We spread the fish throughout the river. It’s just not a good ecosystem for natural reproduction, but adult fish do fine.”

Questions Remain

Sewell, Rodriguez and other local anglers BassFan spoke with are skeptical that toxic algae are solely to blame for the fish kill. They’re not completely buying the theory that an algae bloom in November, with water temperatures in the high 50s, could cause such a widespread die-off.

Apperson said there has been no evidence found to lead investigators to believe the toxic algae wasn’t to blame.

“To have something like this happen is catastrophic,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just a dang shame. It’s horrible for the bay because it takes time when you lose a lot of baby fish for it to rebound. Those are the fish the predators are after.”

Rodriguez says there’s typically a common thread among past fish kills that have occurred in the Middle River.

“It always seems to start in the back of Martin’s Lagoon,” he said. “We, as fishermen, see first hand being out there 50 to 80 times a year. It’s more than an algae bloom for November on the upper part here. I’ve never seen one. They say it’s a natural occurrence. To me it’s more than that.”

Some believe that a chemical element may have been introduced into the water, possible via a discharge pipe, and that could’ve triggered the toxic algae to flourish and then spread with the tide cycles (to see a video Sewell posted of the pipe discharge, click here).

“I don’t believe it’s the algae,” said Gregory Hall, an angler who lives in White Marsh, Md. “That water is pristine and clear. It’s some of the cleanest, liveliest water around here. I’m not a microbiologist, but how does an algae bloom happen when the water temperature’s been stable, 55 to 57 degrees, for 3 weeks?”

Sewell shared Hall’s skepticism.

“I’m not a biologist or a scientist with eight different degrees going down my sleeve,” he said, “but I’ve been here all of my life. I’m 65 years old and I’ve got the on-the-water experience. I’m on the scene. I’m the boots on the ground and I’m seeing it first hand. I don’t buy the DOE statement about the algae.”

Sewell said he’s had suspicions about potentially hazardous liquids being introduced into the back of Cow Pen Creek from a drain pipe that he said appeared to be hidden by several chunks of concrete. Sewell said he alerted the investigators to the pipe earlier this week and samples were taken from the liquid that was trickling out of it. Sewell noted a foul smell coming from the pipe's vicinity.

In the below video, posted to Facebook by Sewell on Monday, Sewell talks with DOE field agent Charlie Poukish about the discharge pipe:

The pipe’s proximity to a warehouse facility of Tilley Chemical Company and Martin State Airport near Cow Pen Creek has some wondering if it’s being used to illegally discharge material into the creek. Kirk Izer, the chief financial officer of Tilley Chemical, told BassFan Wednesday that he has no knowledge of any discharge pipe running from Tilley’s facility to the creek.

“We don’t have anything like that,” Izer said. “We’re in full compliance with all laws and regulations. If any issues come up, they come and inspect us and we’re in full compliance. We know the Department of Environment is studying the problems and we hope they get to the bottom of this, but there is no discharge coming from here. It’s been business as usual for us here.”

Apperson said the state is looking into the origin of the pipe.

"We know people are concerned," he said, "and we're following up on it."