Shenandoah fish kills cause roiling on river

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FRONT ROYAL, Va. —Few American waterways evoke as much passion, poetry and song, and memories of days gone by as the Shenandoah River, which flows north for 150 miles from Virginia into West Virginia to join the Potomac at Harpers Ferry.

But these days, not much is right with the historic waterway.

In the past several years, dreadful things have happened to this priceless beauty Virginians claim as their own. Fish have been found dead or dying, some suffering horrendous body sores, others simply floating dead with no outward signs of illness.

Despite the small army of investigating scientists, government officials and concerned conservation and sport fishing groups, no one yet has come up with answers regarding the causes of the fish kills.

Perhaps there is no single answer to the river's plight, but whatever ails the Shenandoah almost certainly was — and still is — caused by man.

A kaleidoscope of answers about what is happening to the river is easy to come by: Opinions are as plentiful as the people who live along the Shenandoah from New Market and Front Royal to its eventual confluence with the Potomac at Harpers Ferry.

Robert Brent of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) knows of the many pollution complaints, and he agreed that pinning down the causes isn't easy.

"There are a number of different problems on the river," he said. "There's a bacterial impairment on both the north and south forks that concerns fecal bacteria, which exceed state standards. In addition, the south fork has aquatic-life impairment concerning the biological health of the stream. The south fork is not fully supporting aquatic life."

Around the public Riverton boat launch along the Shenandoah's north fork, within shouting distance of Front Royal, small tufts of a foamy substance float toward the West Virginia border, accompanied by malodorous strands of darkly colored, dead grass.

Front Royal angler Dick Fox said, "Ten years ago, it wasn't unusual to catch 100 smallmouth bass in a day. Now you're lucky if you hook a dozen. I think this river is sick. There definitely is something wrong here."