Anglers Concerned About Decline in Monongahela River Fishing

Pittsburgh Post Gazette
6 June 2010
By Deborah Weisberg

Recent news that the Monongahela River made American Rivers' "Most Endangered Rivers" list didn't come as a shock to muskie angler Dave Myers, but it fueled his sense of dread.

"I've got this knot in my stomach," said Myers, of Carmichaels, whose Muskie Maniac boat can be spotted on the Mon several days a week. "I've fished this river for 30 years and I don't know what I'd do if we end up losing it."

Myers began questioning the impacts of the burgeoning natural gas extraction industry on his home fishery long before Thursday, when the Washington D.C.-based environmental watchdog group said threats from Marcellus shale drilling have made the Mon the ninth most endangered waterway in the U.S. The Upper Delaware River in Pennsylvania and New York was rated No. 1 on the endangered list.

"The Mon looks prettier than it ever did, but you can't judge water quality just by the way it looks," said Myers, who has shared his fish photos and log book with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which, for the first time in six years plans to stock tiger muskies in Ten Mile Pool in November.

Myers said muskie fishing has declined.

"I used to catch 30, 40 muskies a year out of Ten Mile alone. This year, I caught two," said Myers, whose biggest Mon muskie was 48 1/2 inches. "Maybe the long winter gave the river a slow start, but when you see the drillers' tanker trucks lining up at the boat launches, and when you see EPA guys on the river, it raises your eyebrows. I'd say the river's being polluted."

The Monongahela had suffered the effects of coal mining and steelmaking for centuries, but the Clean Water Act of 1972 spurred a transformation in the fishery. In 1967, biologists failed to find a single fish in the Maxwell lock chamber, and in 1968 they collected just one bluegill. The first walleyes showed up at Maxwell in 1978; saugers 10 years later.

"In 2003, we caught 7,310 fish and 26 different species," said Fish and Boat biologist Bob Ventorini, who noted that pollution-intolerant non-game species, such as smallmouth redhorse, were part of the mix.

In recent years, however, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has detected elevated levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) in the Mon tied to Marcellus shale natural gas drilling.

Companies withdraw millions of gallons of water from local fisheries, treat it with sand and chemicals, and use it to fracture shale and release natural gas from as deep as a mile underground. The hydro-fracturing fluid, TDS and other unwanted products flow back to the surface within the well. They are usually treated and released into Pennsylvania waterways, although some companies are beginning to recycle.

Ventorini said Fish and Boat doesn't yet know how TDS is impacting Mon River fish, but it is ramping up efforts to monitor changes. Last year, for the first time since 2003, electro-fishing studies were conducted below several dams; sampling for rotenone -- an odorless chemical used in insecticides and pesticides -- is slated for lock chambers this fall.

Ventorini doesn't want to see the Mon's 40-year recovery go down the drain.

"Just looking at the raw data we have so far, things look pretty good as far as the fish community goes, but the effects of new pollutants may not be showing up yet," he said. "They may be chronic more than immediate. The scientific community doesn't have enough data to know how TDS are affecting fish in the Mon, so it's critical we survey these critters every year. We'll use different pieces of a pie to understand the whole picture."

B.A.S.S. Federation pro angler Ken Baumgardner, who lives along the Mon in Monongahela, says he wants to know more.

"I see the drilling trucks taking water for their fracking operations, and it worries me," he said. "The Mon is a fragile fishery and we need to protect it. We need tighter environmental regulations."

Although he said the fishery looks healthy on the whole, appearances can be deceiving, especially since springtime flow may be dissipating pollution.

"I was out the other day and there's a ton of baitfish in the water -- lots of emerald shiners-- and the bass were nice and fat. You could catch a pile of fish a day if you wanted. Even the vegetation is nice and green," he said. "But when we get to August, it could be a totally different deal because at that time of year, the Mon's hardly moving."

Like Myers, he says the muskie bite has gone downhill, and "crappie fishing has nose-dived, too." He said he'll look for clues in the channel catfish he plans to catch this summer.

"The catfish population has always been good, but if the numbers aren't there or they look sickly, it'll tell me something," Baumgardner said. "I'm not a biologist, but I'm on the river enough that I know when something's wrong. I'm worried. Believe me, I'm worried."