State hatcheries not covered by algae warning

Friday, July 16, 2010  02:52 AM

By Gina Potthoff and Spencer Hunt

Ohio's St. Marys fish hatchery is made up of 26 ponds along the eastern shore of polluted Grand Lake St. Marys. The fish, which are used to stock bodies of water, swim in untreated lake water. The state hasn't seen a serious toxin threat in them.

A government warning that people shouldn’t touch the toxic, algae-filled water of Grand Lake St. Marys doesn’t extend to the millions of fish raised at a nearby state hatchery.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources raises catfish, saugeye, largemouth bass and other species in 26 ponds along the eastern shore of the 13,000-acre polluted lake. The fish, valued at $3.5 million, swim in untreated water taken directly from the lake, which is in Mercer and Auglaize counties in western Ohio.

There also is no warning about the state’s Hebron Fish Hatchery, which takes its water from nearby algae-choked Buckeye Lake to raise fish valued at $3.5million.

Elmer Heyob, the fish-hatchery administrator for the Department of Natural Resources, said he doesn’t consider the toxins and the low oxygen levels that algae blooms can create a big-enough threat to change the water supplies of the two hatcheries.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources

“Obviously, we’re concerned (toxins) could be an issue, but they haven’t been,” Heyob said.

However, David Culver, an emeritus professor who runs Ohio State University’s limnology laboratory, is worried. “The quality of the water in the lake affects the quality of water in the ponds,” said Culver, who has tested Grand Lake and Buckeye Lake for more than three years in an ODNR project to optimize fish production at the hatcheries.

“You get algae blooms in the ponds, you kill the baby fish, and that makes everyone mad.”

The fish grown at Natural Resources’ six hatcheries are valued at about $11.6 million. They are used to stock lakes, reservoirs and streams statewide.

Fertilizers and manure that run off nearby farms have helped make Grand Lake St. Marys one of Ohio’s most-polluted bodies of water. The resulting phosphorus feeds algae and creates vast blooms of cyanobacteria, which is also called blue-green algae.

This year, the algae have produced three toxins in the lake and created a dead zone that is killing fish. One species of algae produced the liver toxin microcystin, which also has been found in Buckeye Lake, although in much lower levels.

The pollution and toxins have become so bad at Grand Lake St. Marys that Gov. Ted Strickland asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for help on July 2.

Water from Grand Lake St. Marys was used two weeks ago to fill two hatchery ponds where 160,000 channel catfish will be raised, said hatchery supervisor Morton Pugh.

Buckeye Lake water is funneled about every two weeks into the Hebron hatchery through a canal. Hebron hatchery supervisor Pat Howard said his staff has learned to deal with low oxygen levels over 20 years.

Heyob said the algae have not had a “significant” effect on raising fish from fertilized eggs. In a clean pond, 50percent to 70percent of those eggs grow into fingerlings.

Experts said that fish raised in these hatcheries probably are safe to eat.

John Rodgers, a Clemson University environmental toxicologist, said young fish placed in toxin-free lakes or streams can rid themselves of toxins in their body in a week.

Fish caught in Grand Lake St. Marys, Rodgers said, are a different story. A specific kind of saugeye grown at the St. Marys Hatchery goes into Grand Lake St. Marys. This year, 195,000 fish were used to stock the lake.

Paul Zimba, director of the Center for Coastal Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said microcystin can accumulate in fish tissue.

Rodgers said it’s best not to eat fish caught in algae-rich water. “It’s better to err on the side of caution, especially as we learn more about these toxins,” he said.

Because of mercury contamination, the Ohio EPA advises that people eat no more than one meal per week of most fish caught from Grand Lake St. Marys.

gpotthoff@dispatch.com
shunt@dispatch.com

For more info and pictures See:
Memo: Blue-Green Algae in Grand Lake St. Marys

Memo to:     Indiana Lakes Management Work Group and Interested Parties
From:            Greg Biberdorf
Date:             July 16, 2010
Subject:      Blue-Green Algae infestation in Grand Lake St. Marys in Ohio