28th ANNUAL EASTERN FISH HEALTH WORKSHOP
April 21-25, 2003
Maryland Fish Health and Fish Kill Investigations In
2002
Mark
Matsche1, Larry
Pieper1, Charles Poukish2, and Chris Luckett2
1Maryland Department of
Natural Resources, Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, 904 South Morris Street,
Oxford, MD 21654; 2Maryland Department of the
Environment, Chincopin Round Road, Annapolis, MD 21401
The
Fish and Wildlife Health Program (FWHP), a component of the Maryland Department
of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries service located at the Cooperative Oxford
Laboratory (COL), continues to work cooperatively with the Maryland Department
of the Environment (MDE) to investigate fish kills in Maryland’s waters. The emphasis of the FWHP’s efforts is to
diagnose and document fish mortality and morbidity events. The FWHP also provides technical assistance
to MDE’s Fish Kill Investigation Section as well as other DNR personnel in the
investigation of fish health events.
Objectives of the FWH Program include conducting investigations into the
causes of acute and chronic fish morbidity/mortality events, providing
technical assistance and logistical support of fish-kill investigations
conducted by the MDE Fish Kill Unit, compiling and providing fish-kill data
each year for the existing MDE Database and providing educational workshops to
groups within DNR and MDE that may respond to fish health events. A total of 149 fish kills were reported in 2002 that involved 268,700
fish. Ninety-six of these events
were considered significant enough to warrant on-site investigations. Sixty-eight percent of the incidents
occurred between April and July. Eighty
percent of reported kills occurred between April
1 and September 30. Of the 96 events
that were investigated, 84 were confirmed fish kills. The twelve additional events were determined to be non-kills.
Every county in Maryland, with the exception of Allegany, was affected by a
fish kill event in 2002. Baltimore
County experienced the highest number of reported fish kills with seventeen. Anne Arundel and Worcester Counties
experienced the second highest incidence of kills and each had 14. This report will summarize cooperative fish
health and fish kill investigations in Maryland in 2002.
