Big trouble for smallmouth bass

We're delighted to welcome guest blogger Ed Perry, who is the National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) climate change field organizer in Pennsylvania (PennFuture is proud to be NWF's affiliate in Pennsylvania.) Ed, an aquatic biologist and life-long angler, shares distressing news related to climate change in Pa. He writes:

Something smells fishy about the middle Susquehanna River. Unfortunately, it’s not the smell of a healthy river teeming with fish. It’s the smell of fish dying in what was once one of the premier smallmouth bass streams in the eastern U.S.  It’s gotten so bad that the Fish and Boat Commission has asked the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection to declare almost 100 miles of the middle Susquehanna as impaired.

The dying started in 2005, which was then the hottest year on record, and has continued every year since, whenever there is a combination of low flows and high temperatures.  

A common soil and water bacteria called Columnaris has been identified as the disease killing the fish. But the real culprit is the lethal combination of low flows and high temperatures, which lower dissolved oxygen levels, thereby stressing the fish and making them susceptible to infection from these common bacteria that have always been in the river.

What’s  worse is the disease is being found in other rivers including the Allegheny, Delaware, Schuylkill and Chemung, and Sherman Creek.  Some of these have had waters temperatures of almost 95°F. Even relatively pristine streams such as the Loyalsock and Pine Creek have been affected. The same disease infecting smallmouth on the Susquehanna and Juniata River infect salmon in the Rogue River in Oregon, fish farms in Australia, and private trout hatcheries in Pennsylvania whenever the lethal combination of high temperatures and low flows are present. 

There is no question that there’s pollution in our rivers, but it’s also no coincidence that fish started dying in the hottest year in the hottest decade on record. The question is: Is this the new normal? Unfortunately, it just may be.

The 2013 National Climate Assessment shows very high confidence that temperatures will increase and dissolved oxygen will decline in many streams in the years ahead.

So, for those of us who are avid anglers, the unwillingness of our political leaders to face up to the threat of climate change may spell the end of this great smallmouth bass fishery we hold so dear.

Want to learn more from Ed Perry about climate change impacts on Pennsylvania's wildlife? Consider yourself invited to either of his upcoming round tables: Tues. Aug 27 in Erie and Thurs. Aug 29 in Bethlehem.