Research Ongoing On Oconee River

By Stephanie Miller | The Courier Herald Online

June 11, 2008

A bird with what appears to be deformed feet covered with sores is just one more indication to those who are regularly on the Oconee River that something is wrong with the river.

"This is a Little Blue Heron that I photographed on Sunday just upstream of where I-16 crosses the Oconee River south of Dublin (East Dublin)," wrote the Altamaha Riverkeeper James Holland in an email, along with a picture of the bird, he sent to about 30 individuals and groups who are concerned with the condition of the Oconee River near Dublin.

Holland has been checking the condition of the river in recent weeks along with biologists and technicians from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division following reports by the Laurens County Sportsmen's Club (LCSC) that the water quality of the river has declined and the evidence is in the health condition or lack of wildlife in and along the river.

"This bird did not want to fly and allowed me to get close enough to take the photos," Holland wrote. "After two days on the river up there I firmly believe that we may have some very serious concerns on our hands regarding water quality and I don't know what else. At this point my observations are only speculations but I saw so much up there that I am extremely concerned for the health of
not only wildlife, but human health concerns also."

Holland spent Monday night giving a summary of what he had seen on his river trips to the LCSC. The LCSC also heard a report from the Georgia Department of Resources Fisheries Division and State Rep. DuBose Porter after members voiced concern over changes they had seen within the last several months in the river.

"This river is a part of our lives," said LCSC secretary Cheryl Barron Tuesday night as she waited for the two crews from the DNR to return to the LCSC landing after having been on the river all day conducting electro-fishing in order to gather fish for a health check and disease survey.

Barron explained that for so many in the LCSC, the river is a part of their childhood and adult life. They have spent years on the river and are familiar with its many seasonal changes as well as its water quality. What they've seen lately has concerned many in the group so much that they are ready to wage a clean-up war with any source found to be causing the river quality to decline. Several other members of the LCSC waited patiently Tuesday for the DNR crews to return as well.

"We've been very careful not to point any fingers at this point," said Barron recently, adding the LCSC wants to make every effort to allow those who are professionals to do their job of investigating the problem and finding the real source of contamination, if indeed there is one.

The LCSC became concerned when members began catching lots of fish covered with sores. They also noticed a lack of hard shelled turtles, a decline in the bird population, and animals that behaved abnormally according to the species' expected behavior.

"That's not good, that is not good at all," she said, talking about an alligator that actually allowed itself to be tapped on the head as it laid on a sandbar before it would go under water.

"An alligator, normally, when they see humans, they go back into the water, but we saw one and it slowly crawled up on the sandbar and laid there. We went up there and we looked for signs to see if the 'gator was hurt or bleeding or anything and we couldn't see anything. It took us about 15 minutes to get it back into the water. It was very slow or sluggish for this time of year," said Barron.

DNR Fisheries Biologist Bryant Bowen brought down a team of technicians to help electro-fish Tuesday to sample the fish population for a survey of the fish health. After more than eight hours on the river and a total of 17 hours checking and logging fishing, 94 fish had been brought in and 20 sent to Auburn University for evaluation.

Bowen said he could not make any assumption yet of what may be wrong with the river, but he did take note of several things he saw.

"We did see a dead fish float up, a shad, but people are going to see dead fish float up," he said, explaining finding a dead fish is not that uncommon.

"We did see more birds today than yesterday. We did not see any hard shell turtles," he said.

Bowen said the survey is being done as a follow-up to the concerns of the LCSC, but the DNR does not go in believing there is a problem.

"We have to go in as unbiased researchers. We listen, but we can't go in thinking there's a problem. We make an unbiased evaluation of the fish population," he said.

The Environmental Protection Division of the DNR is also being contacted to evaluate the water quality of the area surrounding Dublin, according to LCSC members. The Courier Herald will continue to follow the research and evaluation of the river and report its completion.