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June 18, 2000, Sunday
New Jersey Weekly Desk
THE GREAT OUTDOORS; Jitters About an Elusive Microbe
By G. PATRICK PAWLING
It's a pretty river, the Tuckahoe, but to some it looks different this summer. One night last September, Gene Betz, who has lived along the banks for 17 years, walked out onto his floodlit dock here in South Jersey and glanced at the fish swimming below. What he saw shocked him. He looked more closely and saw hundreds of fish, all with sores on them. Mr. Betz called the state, and what has happened since is at least puzzling to people who live here.
It did not help that people from the state Department of Environmental Protection arrived in their ''moon suits.'' Much worse, however, was the long silence that followed. For about eight months, the state said nothing.Even now, environmental officials say they don't know much. The fish, menhaden, were diseased and dying, they know, but that is where the answers stop. The disease may have been caused by a mysterious and potentially toxic microscopic organism called Pfiesteria piscicida. Pfiesteria (pronounced FEE-steer-EE-ah), which has been found in the Chesapeake Bay area and North Carolina, seems to prefer slow-moving water that is midway in brackishness between the oceans' salinity and fresh water.
So far it has killed millions of fish and apparently has also sickened people, including researchers looking into its effects and people who spend time in and around the water. Those exposed to Pfiesteria have developed open sores and have experienced memory loss, faintness, respiratory problems, disorientation, behavioral changes and immune-system problems.
The fish Mr. Betz saw here last September showed the flesh-eaten sores characteristic of Pfiesteria. In addition, water and sediment samples showed the presence of the organism, though not in its toxic state. Pfiesteria is believed to produce toxins in water that is polluted with nutrients -- fertilizer runoff, for example -- or discharge from chicken processing plants. It is a problem only when it is toxic, which does not happen often and doesn't last long. It is also difficult to test for the toxin.
With this microbe, nothing is easy. While it might have been Pfiesteria that caused the fish kill, there is no way to know for sure. If it was, it was the state's first encounter with the organism. Even if it wasn't, some residents don't like the way the state Department of Environmental Protection handled the matter. They ask why they had to wait about eight months -- until a reporter for The Press of Atlantic City started asking questions -- to learn that something potentially harmful was lurking in the river?
In its defense, the state said that almost as soon as environmental officials determined it might be Pfiesteria, Hurricane Floyd's rain flushed the river clean. Warnings would have been beside the point, they said. And they had not yet come up with a plan to deal with Pfiesteria emergencies.
But Shirley Moeller, who lives beside a creek fed by the Tuckahoe, said: ''I think the State of New Jersey pulled a real fast one on the people of Corbin City. They are obviously not concerned about our welfare.''
Ms. Moeller went on: ''I'm usually a very quiet person, but this really irked me. I feel they should have given us a choice. It's a little scary to hear about this after the fact. To me it's a serious health question.''
Mayor Robert Manzi, interviewed at a swimming hole about a half-mile from the site of the fish kill, said he too was disappointed.
''People eat the fish and crabs from the river. they water ski in it,'' he said. ''It's a swimming river. A people's river. There should have been a warning.''
Mr. Betz, who reported the incident in September, believes the state acted properly. With Floyd washing everything away, ''It wasn't worth panicking about,'' he said. But he said that without the rains it would have been a different story.
If Pfiesteria resurfaces here, the state does intend to warn the public. But the state's plan hinges on people reporting fish kills quickly. If wildlife officials find a suspicious fish kill, restrictions on water use may well be imposed even before laboratory tests confirm the presence of Pfiesteria.
The state plan also identifies areas where Pfiesteria incidents might be likely to occur, though officials say these are only guesses. They include the generally north-facing shoreline roughly from the Sandy Hook area to Laurence Harbor; the inland side of the bays and ocean shoreline from around Bay Head to the mouth of the Forked River; sections of the Tuckahoe River around Corbin City; the mouth of the Great Egg Harbor River; and the Delaware Bay estuary areas along the Salem and Cumberland County shorelines.
A spokeswoman for the environmental agency, Loretta O'Donnell, said it was too early to say if there was anything seriously wrong. ''I don't think it's saying anything yet about the health of the river overall,'' she said. ''We are happy that we have not had the impact that there has been in other states and other waters.''
For now, the state plans to take more water and sediment samples to test for Pfiesteria.
Tracye McArdle, director of the Atlantic County Health Department, said, ''I think the D.E.P. learned from the experience.''
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