Shenandoah River conditions harming fish population - WHSV

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Page County, Va. (WHSV) - On Friday, Shenandoah National Park announced a temporary fishing ban on its rivers and streams due to low stream flows and high water temperatures that have been harmful to fish.

The Shenandoah River is also facing a harmful algae bloom linked to the same issues, as well as an increase in nutrients in the water from poultry and cattle runoff.

“We have 180 million chickens in the Shenandoah Valley, and when that litter gets put on already saturated land, it runs into the river and kickstarts these algal blooms,” said Mark Forndorf, the Shenandoah Riverkeeper.

He hopes the state does something to address the high nutrient levels that are running into the river’s groundwater supply.

Forndorf said these problems have contributed to a declining fish population over the past few years, and that the water issues have an even greater effect on Shenandoah National Park’s fish.

“When the water drops, it concentrates those fish into smaller pools where they compete for even more of the oxygen, so it’s a dangerous situation for the fish up in the mountains right now,” he said.

Frondorf encourages people to be mindful of the river’s conditions and limit the amount of fishing they’re doing in the short term to lessen the stress on the fish.

Copyright 2021 WHSV. All rights reserved.

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