Re: Is NY Lobster decline associated with WNV pesticides?

The issue of the lobster die off in Long Island Sound has stimulated a great
deal of debate. One fact that often is ignored is that the decline in
lobster harvest occured before the discovery of the West Nile Virus in the
New York City area.
The decline was first noticed in 1998 and reported in the spring and early
summer of 1999. The WNV was discovered in August 1999 when it was first
thought to be St. Lewis Virus (SLV) but soon identified as WNV. Aerial
application of pesticides was undertaken during September in NYC and on
Long Island. The major chemical used for aerial appliction in NYC and
Suffolk County was malathion and in Nassau County was sumithrin.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lois Levitan" <lcl3@cornell.edu>
To: "WESTNILEVIRUS-L" <WESTNILEVIRUS-L@cornell.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 7:36 AM
Subject: Is NY Lobster decline associated with WNV pesticides?

> ProMED posted an article from the New Agriculturalist asserting that
> pesticides, particularly pyrethroids used in WNV control, are a
> suspected cause of lobster decline in LI sound. The possible
> connections between pesticides, WNV and lobster decline were debated
> extensively by various groups in 2000. I have summarized excerpts
> from this conversation from my archives; they follow below the
> posting forwarded from ProMED. Note that concerns have ranged from
> focus on methoprene (larvicide) to malathion and pyrethroids.
> Comments in [square brackets] are mine unless otherwise noted. --
> Lois Levitan
>
> (1) ProMED posting Jan 16, 2003: Lobster Decline
> (2)-(4) Methoprene Insect Growth Regulator
> (5) Newsday April 18, 2000 article about lobstering and workshop on
> lobster decline
> (6) Cable broadcast re: lobster die off and malathion
> (7) AP March 29, 2000: Connecticut lobstermen join effort to
> investigate lobster dieoff
> (8) NYTimes--July 28, 2000: Dejected Lobstermen Blame Mosquito
> Spraying in Crippling Die-Off
> (9) New Scientist--August 12, 2000: Dead in the Water [pyrethroid
connection]
> (10) Sept 1, 2000: Lawsuit
>
> (1)
> Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003
> From: ProMED-mail <promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu>
> Subject: PRO/AH> Lobster decline - USA (NY) Id: 20030116.0126
>
> LOBSTER DECLINE - USA (NY)
>
> Date: 15 Jan 2003
> From: Pablo Nart <p.nart@virgin.net>
> Source New Agriculturalist [edited by ProMed]
> <http://www.new-agri.co.uk/00-5/newsbr.html#nb9>
>
> Pesticides are the suspected cause of a devastating decline in the lobster
> population off the coast of New York. Preliminary tests on lobsters from
> Long Island Sound have found traces of pyrethroid, and researchers believe
> this may be linked to [the management of] an outbreak of West Nile virus
> in New York last year.
>
> In an attempt to prevent another outbreak of the virus, which is spread by
> mosquitoes, several eastern coastal states sprayed large quantities of
> insecticide. Although the US Environmental Protection Agency restricts
> spraying to land, scientists have surmised that heavy storms caused by
> Hurricane Floyd at the time of spraying may have washed large amounts of
> the pyrethroid chemicals into the sewers that flow into the Sound.
>
> Although the pesticides may have been sufficient to cause the fatalities,
a
> _Paramoeba_ parasite has also been found in the nervous system of lobsters
> studied, which may indicate that the insecticide affected the lobsters'
> immune system, allowing the parasite to overwhelm the population.
>
> [ProMED moderator comments: "Although the lobsters may be more sensitive
> to pesticides, and subsequently to the parasite, the dilution factors
would
> make the amount reaching the lobsters minuscule. There have been other
> lobster die-offs prior to the discovery of West Nile virus in the US.
> The link between pesticides in the lobsters and the parasites is extremely
weak
> at this point. - Mod.TG]
>
> See also:
> Lobster die-off - USA (Long Island Sound): update 20000330.0470
> Lobster die-off - USA (Long Island Sound) (02) 19991214.2164
> Lobster die-off - USA (Long Island Sound) 19991019.1859
> Lobster sushi controversy (02) 19990206.0173
> Lobster sushi controversy 19990204.0166
> Lobster illness identified - USA (Maine)(02) 19990202.0149
> Lobster illness identified - USA (Maine) 19990122.0106
> Lobster die-off - USA (Maine) 19981014.2039
>
>
> (2)
> Date: April 18, 2000
> From: Peg Van Patten <vanpatte@UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU>
> Posted to: Long Island Sound Watershed Alliance (LISWA) Listserv
> Subject: Re: Mosquito Rumors
>
> At our lobster health workshop yesterday, some surprise was expressed by
> UCONN Prof. Hans Laufer, who just learned about the Methaprene
> [insect growth regulator used as a mosquito larvicide because it prevents
> emergence of adult mosquitoes]. He says the stuff is identical to a
> lobster hormone
> that he's described and thus could clearly interfere with their molting
and
> reproduction. If you'd like to ask him about it, his email is
> laufer@uconnvm.uconn.edu.
> ... We are transcribing the entire [workshop].
>
> Peg Van Patten is/was Communications Director,
> Connecticut Sea Grant College Program,
> University of Connecticut, http://www.seagrant.uconn.edu
>
>
> (3)
> Excerpts from April 2000 posting to the Long Island Sound Watershed
> Alliance (LISWA) Listserv
> re: Methoprene.
> From E X T O X N E T (Extension Toxicology Network),
> Pesticide Information Profiles (PIP), Reference List Number 10
> (Revised June 1996)
>
> EXTOXNET is a Pesticide Information Project of Cooperative Extension
> Offices of Cornell
> University, Oregon State University, the University of Idaho, and the
> University of California at Davis and the Institute for Environmental
> Toxicology, Michigan State University. Major support and funding was
provided
> by the USDA/Extension Service/National Agricultural Pesticide Impact
> Assessment Program.
>
> Trade and Other Names: Trade names include Altosid, Apex, Diacan,
> Dianex, Kabat, Minex, Pharorid, Precor, and ZR-515.
>
> Regulatory Status: Methoprene is a slightly to practically nontoxic
> compound in EPA toxicity class IV. It is a General Use Pesticide
> (GUP). Labels for containers of products containing methoprene must
> bear the Signal Word CAUTION.
>
> Introduction: Methoprene is a compound which mimics the action of an
> insect growth regulation hormone. It is used as an insecticide
> because it interferes with the normal maturation process. In a normal
> life cycle, an insect goes from egg to larva, to pupa, and eventually
> to adult. Methoprene artifically stunts the insects' development,
> making it impossible for insects to mature to the adult stages, and
> thus preventing them from reproducing.
>
> To be effective, it is essential that this growth inhibitor be
> administered at the proper stage of the target pest's life cycle.
> Methoprene is not toxic to the pupal or adult stages. Treated larvae
> will pupate but adults do not hatch from the pupal stage. Methoprene
> is also considered a larvicide since it is effective in controlling
> the larval stage of insects. Methoprene is used in the production of
> a number of foods including meat, milk, eggs, mushrooms,peanuts,
> rice, and cereals. It is also used in aquatic areas to control
> mosquitoes and several types of ants, flies, lice, moths, beetles,
> and fleas. It is available in suspension, emulsifiable and soluble
> concentrate formulations, as well as in briquette, aerosol, and bait
> form.
> ...
> Toxicological Effects: [see EXTOXNET or EPA for details in addt to
> the following]
>
> Fate in humans and animals: In mammals, methoprene is rapidly and
> completely broken down and excreted, mostly in the urine and feces
> [157]. Some evidence suggests that methoprene metabolites are
> incorporated into natural body components [155]. Methoprene is
> excreted unchanged in cattle feces in amounts that are sufficient to
> kill some larvae that breed in dung [131].
>
> Ecological Effects:
> ...
> Effects on aquatic organisms: Methoprene is slightly to moderately
> toxic to fish [157]. The reported 96-hour LC50 values for the
> methoprene formulation Altosid were 4.6 mg/L in bluegill sunfish, 4.4
> mg/L in trout, and greater than 100 mg/L in channel catfish and
> largemouth bass [1,8]. Methoprene residues may have a slight
> potential for bioconcentration in bluegill sunfish and crayfish
> [155]. Methoprene is very highly toxic to some species of freshwater,
> estuarine, and marine invertebrates, while the acute LC50 values are
> greater than 100 mg/L in freshwater shrimp, and it is greater than
> 0.1 mg/L in estuarine mud crabs [159]. Altosid had very little
> effect, if any, on exposed non-target aquatic organisms including
> waterfleas, damselflies, snails, tadpoles, and mosquito fish [159].
> Effects on other organisms: Tests with earthworms showed little if
> any toxic effects on contact [159]. It is nontoxic to bees [1].
>
> Environmental Fate:
> ...
> Breakdown in water: Methoprene degrades rapidly in water [8]. Studies have
> demonstrated half-lives in pond water of about 30 and 40 hours at initial
> concentrations of 0.001 mg/L and 0.01 mg/L, respectively [49]. At normal
> temperatures and levels of sunlight, technical Altosid is rapidly
degraded,
> mainly by aquatic microorganisms and sunlight [159,49].
> Breakdown in vegetation: Altosid is biodegradable and nonpersistent, even
in
> plants treated at very high rates. It has a half-life of less than 2 days
in
> alfalfa when applied at a rate of 1 pound per acre [159]. In rice, the
> half-life is less than 1 day [49]. In wheat, its half-life was estimated
to be
> 3 to 7 weeks, depending on the level of moisture in the plant [155].
Plants
> grown in treated soil are not expected to contain methoprene residues.
> ...
> Basic Manufacturer: Zoecon Corp. 12005 Ford Rd., Suite 800 Dallas, TX
75234
>
> (4)
> Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000
> From: Peg Van Patten <vanpatte@UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU>
> Subject: Methoprene
> To: CT-NY-LIS-GENERAL@LIST.AUDUBON.ORG
>
> So why, with all the extensive testing conducted on Methaprene,
> didn't they test female lobsters or crabs? The problem is that
> crustaceans and insects are so closely related that many of the
> hormones regulating growth, reproduction and development are
> identical or nearly identical. One of the primary juvenile hormones,
> for example, differs by only one oxygen atom. These crustacean
> endocrine systems should have been a primary concern in the testing
> of the insecticides. ...
>
>
> (5)
> Newsday--April 18, 2000
> Subject: Lobster Disaster: Scientists, fishermen meet to discuss die-off
>
> By Joe Haberstroh, Staff Correspondent
>
> Stamford, Conn. -- The water is clear -- too clear. Female lobsters are
> struggling to shed their shells before they release their eggs, an
> unexplained reversal of the natural sequence. Traps normally draped with
> undersea grasses are coming up clean -- too clean.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Lobstermen said their aggressive harvesting of the Sound in recent years
has
> not contributed to the wave of lobster deaths.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> These were among the observations of commercial lobstermen delivered
> yesterday to a rapt audience of more than 300 scientists, fishermen and
state
> regulators gathered for an unprecedented symposium to explore the die-off
of
> lobsters in Long Island Sound. The die-off has cast in doubt the immediate
> future of New York state's top-earning fishing business.
>
> The event drew biologists from Virginia to Maine and more than 50 of the
> roughly 1,000 people permitted to commercially trap lobsters from the
north
> and south shores of Long Island Sound.
>
> The meeting reviewed several potential causes of the die-off, including
the
> possible contributions of last summer's anti-mosquito efforts. Scientists
> pointed out that one popular mosquito larvacide, which hampers mosquitoes'
> ability to reproduce, may be why many lobstermen have been reporting
catching
> female lobsters shedding their shells too early, before they have released
> their eggs. Lobsters and insects are distant biological cousins,
accounting
> for the possibly similar reactions they may be having to insecticides.
>
> Vincent Palmer, a supervising pesticide inspector with the New York State
> Department of Environmental Conservation, said the agency is studying the
> larvacide in question, Methoprene, which has been used for years in Nassau
> and Suffolk Counties.
>
> <Picture: lobster>
> Newsday File Photo
> A healthy lobster from the Sound. Lobster harvesting is New York state's
> leading fishing industry.The daylong meeting, organized by Sea Grant
research
> programs in New York and Connecticut, featured biologists and regulators
> reviewing what is known about conditions that may have spurred last fall's
> deadly event. But the descriptive centerpiece of the day was lobstermen's
> testimony about what they began to see on the water beginning in late
> September.
>
> "You'd pull the traps up, and they'd have a slime all over them," said
Roger
> Frate Jr., a Darien lobsterman. "You'd also smell a constant sulphur-like
> smell off it."
>
> Lobstermen also denied that their aggressive harvesting of the Sound in
> recent years somehow contributed to the wave of lobster deaths. To the
> contrary, they said, they have husbanded the lobsters by feeding them with
> bait and allowing smaller animals to escape the submerged traps.
>
> "It's because of lobstermen that we have these tremendous abundances,"
said
> Nick Crismale, a Connecticut lobsterman, referring to record lobster
catches
> until last year. "The Sound is our farm, no matter how you want to look at
> it. And this is a crisis in our lives."
>
> The symptoms of that crisis have begun to show in what one speaker called
a
> "natural resource community" whose success is intricately tied to the
health
> of the lobsters. Joe Finke, a Bayville lobsterman who serves as president
of
> the Western Lobstermen's Association, said two of his members had become
so
> cash-strapped they had sold their homes.
>
> Chris Dyer, a Narragansett, R.I., social scientist who has conducted
studies
> of fishing communities, said the impact of the die-off on lobstermen is
> pronounced because their average age is in the mid-40s and because most of
> them have no training for other professions. While it may be too early to
> draw many conclusions, Dyer said, the regional lobstering community is
> showing stresses similar to those experienced by Alaskan fishing
communities
> dislocated by the Exxon Valdez oil spill 11 years ago.
>
> "I sense the social ... unraveling, and it is not easy to put back
together
> again," said Dyer.
>
> The symposium also attracted a few attorneys, including New Orleans
> environmental lawyer Gladstone Jones, who said lobstermen will likely file
a
> lawsuit against municipalities, counties and pesticide applicators who
last
> fall sprayed communities surrounding the Sound with anti-mosquito
> insecticides.
>
> Long Island Sound Lobstermen's Association president John German, of Mount
> Sinai, stopped short of saying a suit would be filed, but said the
> association is talking seriously with Jones about the possibility.
>
> Like other lobstermen, German said he appreciated yesterday's meeting, and
> said more research was desirable, but he noted some lobstermen were also
in
> need of direct monetary assistance, either in grants or loan interest
loans.
> The Long Island Sound lobster industry has been declared a federal
fisheries
> disaster, but no significant dollars have been released -- even eight
months
> after the die-off began to kill millions of lobsters.
>
> "It's just another meeting," said Finke, the Bayville lobsterman. " But
we've
> all been to a lot of meetings. But many of us have the same sets of
> frustrations. We still don't know why this happened and eight months
later,
> we have no real federal assistance."
>
> The biologists may not have come up with any definitive answers, but it's
> clear they are working on a many-faceted issue with many potential causes,
> and in a sense also a moving and growing target.
>
> While most of the public attention has focused on the deaths of lobsters
in
> western Long Island Sound, biologists are also studying a more common
> outbreak of shell disease -- an unusually large outbreak -- that rippled
last
> year across the eastern reaches of the Sound.
>
> Shell disease is frequently seen in lobster holding facilities in Maine
known
> as pounds, but only about 1 percent of the occurrences take place among
wild
> populations, such as in the Sound, said Deanna Prince, a researcher based
at
> the University of Maine.
>
> The biggest investigation into the die-off has been done by a University
of
> Connecticut laboratory team led by Richard French, who has identified as
the
> cause of death in some of the lobsters a marine-borne parasitic organism.
> That organism apparently attacks the lobster's nervous system and the
gland
> that helps them form and re-form their protective shells. The parasite
> apparently causes the lobsters' meat to take on a pinkish hue, clouds
their
> eyes, makes them lose energy and robs their blood of the ability to
> coagulate.
>
> "In essence, if you do any damage to them, the lobsters bleed to death,"
> French said.
>
> (6)
> Date: June 1, 2000
> From: Roy Doremus <doroy@bway.net>
> ...
> Last month we drove up to Branford Connecticut to interview Nick
Crismale
> President of the Connecticut Commercial Lobstermen's Association in
> Branford Conn. Nick speaks of the destruction from what he and many
> others are convinced is caused by the Malathion that drained into the
> waters of Long Island Sound following the [WNV] spraying last year which
is
> killing the lobsters. He and his fellow lobstermen bring out from
first
> hand experience the economics and politics of the issues, his own
feelings
> about the legislators and the government agencies he had thought were
> created to protect our environment.
>
> Thanks to Carl Lawrence who has just edited and arranged for it to be
> broadcast Friday evening at 6:30 PM on Brooklyn Community Access
Television
> (BCAT) "Green Vision" Ch. #67(Cablevision) and Ch. # 34 (Time Warner)
Hope
> you get a chance to see or tape the show....
>
> Contact: 718 622 7816
>
> (7)
> AP--March 29, 2000
> Subject: Connecticut lobstermen join effort to investigate lobster dieoff
> By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
>
> STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Connecticut lobstermen will participate in
> independent testing to help determine what has been killing millions
> of lobsters in Long Island Sound.
>
> Beginning next week, five lobstermen's groups will collect dead
> lobsters and sediment in the western Sound waters, between Norwalk
> and Glen Cove, N.Y. The samples will be sent to a laboratory in
> Fairfax, Va., where they will be tested.
>
> The testing, expected to cost from $75,000 to $100,000, will be
> funded by FISH Unlimited Inc., a Shelter Island, N.Y.-based fisheries
> conservation group with 14,000 members nationwide.
>
> ''In Western Long Island Sound, there are no more lobsters ... these
> guys are completely wiped out,'' said Bill Smith, executive director
> of FISH Unlimited.
>
> Many lobstermen in the Sound reported death rates of 50 percent or
> more last fall. Michael Horvath, president of the Western Connecticut
> Lobstermen's Association, said he is planning to sell his business
> because of the financial losses he has suffered from the lobster
> dieoff. ''This is taking out the fishermen,'' he said.
>
> ''There is no stock out there. It is completely devastated, and now
> we're in debt and we've got nowhere to go.''
>
> In November, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
> said preliminary tests indicated that a tiny parasite known as
> paramoeba may be to blame for the lobster deaths. But Smith said his
> group believes the dieoff may have been caused by contaminated dredge
> material that was dumped into Western Long Island Sound last fall
> from Mamaroneck Harbor, N.Y. The material contained pesticides and
> other heavy metals, Smith said. He said that at the same time the
> material was being dumped in the Sound, officials in New York and
> Connecticut were spraying pesticides to prevent the spread of the
> West Nile encephalitis outbreak. He said his group believes that
> heavy rains from Hurricane Floyd in September may have washed the
> pesticides into the Sound.
>
> Lawmakers from New York and Connecticut have lobbied for money to
> help the lobstermen. Last month, President Clinton asked Congress for
> $10 million in aid and for research to determine what is killing off
> the lobsters. The Clinton administration named the Sound a Commercial
> Fishery Disaster area in January.
>
> The Long Island Sound is the No. 3 lobster market behind Maine and
> Massachusetts. Connecticut brings in about 3.5 million pounds a year,
> while New York brings in about 8.5 million pounds
>
> Smith said his group expects to have the test results back by mid-May.
> The five groups participating in the sample collection and testing
> are: The Long Island Sound Lobstermen's Association, the Western Long
> Island Sound Lobstermen's Association, The Connecticut Lobstermen's
> Association, The Western Connecticut Lobstermen's Association and the
> Westchester Lobstermen's and Dealers Association.
>
> (8)
> New York Times--July 28, 2000
> Dejected Lobstermen Blame Mosquito Spraying in Crippling Die-Off
> By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
>
> NORWALK, Conn., July 28 -- John Makowski is a fourth-generation
lobsterman,
> or at least he was until the mysterious death of most of the lobster
> population in western Long Island Sound last fall. And though he does not
> have a degree in marine biology, Mr. Makowski, like many of his former
> colleagues, said he was convinced that millions of lobsters were killed by
> the pesticide spraying to fight the West Nile virus.
>
> It is a suspicion that some scientists are taking seriously, saying there
> are plausible indicators -- but not definitive proof -- that the
pesticides
> could have played a role in the catastrophic lobster kill.
>
> On Tuesday morning, just hours after New York City concluded pesticide
> spraying in Central Park, Mr. Makowski and about a dozen other demoralized
> lobstermen were in the offices of the Norwalk Seaport Association
submitting
> paperwork to get federal disaster money authorized for them by Congress.
The
> mosquitoes may be back this year, several pointed out, but the lobsters
are
> not.
>
> They were skeptical about theories last year that a micro-organism, a
> paramoeba, could have killed the lobsters.
>
> "There has been a lot of talk about this paramoeba," Mr. Makowski said.
"But
> paramoeba is in the water all the time. It's not something that in 200
years
> has ever wiped out a fishery."
>
> Like insects, lobsters are arthropods and are extremely susceptible to
> pesticides, he said.
>
> Last year's die-off, marine scientists say, was the worst ever to hit the
> Sound.
>
> Officials estimate that about 11 million lobsters, more than 90 percent of
> the full-sized population, died in the Sound last fall, putting hundreds
of
> lobstermen out of business in Connecticut and New York. Millions of
younger
> lobsters, too small to be harvested, are also believed to have died. The
> Sound is the nation's third-largest lobster source, after Maine and
> Massachusetts, generating $45 million in annual sales.
>
> Lobsters and other crustaceans are vulnerable to many things, including
> changes in water temperature and oxygen content that can prove deadly. The
> effects of dredging and sewage treatment can also be lethal. But many
> lobstermen believe that the pesticide spraying last September and the
> die-off were not a coincidence. They theorize that the pesticides were
> washed into the Sound by heavy rain, including Tropical Storm Floyd, and
> that those chemicals combined with overflows of chlorine and sewage from
> water treatment plants weakened the lobsters' immune systems, allowing the
> paramoeba to kill them.
>
> Scientists have mixed views, but generally regard the theory as plausible
> and well worth researching. The death last year of other crustaceans like
> crabs and starfish suggests that whatever happened was not specific to
> lobsters.
>
> And Dr. Richard A. French, a veterinary pathologist at the University of
> Connecticut, who identified the paramoeba in the dead lobsters, said
> investigators had ruled out several known causes of lobster deaths,
> including bacterial, viral and fungal agents. He said researchers have
been
> collecting lobsters since June 1 to test the pesticide theory and are
> anxious to do so. But until the tests are done, the theory remains just
one
> of many possibilities. "If I had any concerns it would be that there are
> concentrations that could affect the animals in a way that makes them more
> susceptible to other causes of mortality," he said.
>
> Outside the Seaport Association, Jeff Samson, 44, held a small bag filled
> with pink receipts documenting sales for the last three years and copies
of
> income tax forms to prove their losses. The numbers: 50,989 pounds of
> lobster caught in 1997; 53,792 pounds caught in 1998; 18,496 pounds caught
> in 1999. "This year I might get 1,000 if I'm lucky," Mr. Samson said,
adding
> that he has taken a job driving an oil truck, and can afford to fish only
> part time.
>
> Many lobstermen are questioning whether politicians overreacted to the
West
> Nile virus, noting that far more people die of the flu. And several are
> irked by what they consider to be brazen comments by Mayor Rudolph W.
> Giuliani of New York City about his willingness to kill fish and other
> animals if necessary to protect human beings from infected mosquitoes.
>
> "I think they really overdid it," said Anthony Coviello, 56, a lobsterman
> who lives in Rowayton. "If you are going to spray to protect lives and
it's
> going to protect lives, then pay me for my damages because I'm out of
> business."
>
> Mr. Giuliani has repeatedly said his primary concern is the health of
> citizens, and officials throughout the metropolitan region have said that
> pesticides were used in accordance with federal regulations.
>
> The Western Long Island Sound Lobster Association has hired its own
> researchers in hopes of more conclusive findings. Congress has authorized
> $13.9 million in response to the lobster deaths.
>
> Half will go to direct aid for unemployed lobstermen and half will go to
> research. And Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it
will
> conduct a separate six-month, $125,000 environmental study of the Sound,
not
> focused on pesticides, to help determine what killed the lobsters.
>
> Experts generally agree that insecticides, by definition, are deadly to
> crustaceans.
>
> But Dr. Robert Bayer, the director of the Lobster Institute at the
> University of Maine, which is testing the effects of pesticides, said the
> situation in the Sound is complicated.
>
> "I think there are other pollutants that could fit into the picture and
it's
> hard to define what those might be in Long Island Sound when you have got
> the megalopolis around it, which actually could affect the way lobsters
> respond to many things, including pesticides," Dr. Bayer said.
>
> And Ernie Beckwith, the chief of the Connecticut Department of
Environmental
> Protection's marine fisheries division, was more cautious. He said there
was
> also evidence suggesting the pesticides were not involved. "I don't think
we
> have proven anything yet," he said. "We had lobsters dying in places where
> we didn't have spraying going on."
>
> Mr. Beckwith also said his agency was doing everything it could to aid the
> lobstermen and to better understand last year's die-off.
>
> Whatever the cause, the fact remains that what was once a vital industry
has
> been all but wiped out. Marine scientists say it will take at least five
to
> seven years for the lobster population to recover, if it recovers at all.
>
> Mr. Makowski has put his boat up for sale and plans to sell his house. He
> has two daughters, one about to start college. To pay bills, he has taken
a
> job on land, with a ventilation company in Massachusetts.
>
> Waiting to file their paperwork at the Seaport Association, the lobstermen
> said that not only have they lost their livelihoods, they have lost each
> other.
>
> "I used to talk to him three, four times a day, where our wives would be
mad
> at us," Tony Carlo, who is now delivering furniture in New Jersey, said of
> Mr. Coviello. "Now, I don't even see him."
>
> Gary Olewnik, 45, is surviving on a pension from a former job and
insisting
> on trying to trap lobsters, but he is barely making back expenses. "I'm
> paying for my boat and I'm paying for my fuel," he said. Mr. Coviello has
> put his beloved boat, a custom-built beauty named Black Mountain Risin',
up
> for sale.
>
> "We can't collect unemployment and there's no severance pay," Mr. Coviello
> said. "It wasn't our fault. We didn't get up and quit fishing. Somebody
> killed these lobsters. This is nothing but pollution that did this. I
> honestly believe it. Between the pesticides and the sewage treatment
plants,
> there was nothing else." He added: "To be wiped out completely, you can't
> tell me it wasn't something different. Between three weeks and one month,
we
> were completely out of business."
>
>
> (9)
> New Scientist Magazine--August 12, 2000: Dead in the water
> Lobsters are the first victims of New York's pesticide frenzy
>
> A ONCE thriving fishing industry off the coast of New York lies ruined,
after
> the mysterious death of 95 per cent of the local lobster population. The
> prime suspects are pesticides--which have been sprayed over the
surrounding
> area in a desperate attempt to prevent another outbreak of West Nile
virus.
>
> In several eastern coastal states, the use of insecticide skyrocketed last
> year after an outbreak in New York of the virus, which is spread by
> mosquitoes (New Scientist, 2 October 1999, p 13).
>
> A month after the spraying began, hundreds of fishermen returned from Long
> Island Sound--a 190-kilometre long inlet bordered by New York state and
> Connecticut--with traps full of dead or dying lobster. John Makowski, a
> former lobsterman in Rowayton, Connecticut, says that in his 40 years he
has
> seen many small die-offs, but nothing this catastrophic. Most fishermen
> suspect the pesticides are to blame. "It's not a coincidence," says
Makowski.
>
> Growing scientific evidence is now supporting the fishermen's suspicions.
One
> of the insecticides used, based on compounds called pyrethroids, not only
> kills mosquitoes but is also toxic to the insect's close arthropod
relative,
> the lobster. "If it gets into the water, it will kill aquatic life," says
> pesticide expert Richard Bromilow of Britain's Institute of Arable Crops
> Research in Rothamsted. "That's why pyrethroid use is banned in the UK."
>
> The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restricts spraying to land,
but
> pesticides may reach local waters on winds and during heavy rainfall.
> Researchers think that at the time of spraying, the heavy storms of
Hurricane
> Floyd may have washed large amounts of insecticide down sewage drains.
Many
> of these drains flow into Long Island Sound.
>
> Preliminary tests on lobsters in the Sound confirm the presence of traces
of
> pyrethroid, says Bill Smith of the conservation group Fish Unlimited,
based
> in Shelter Island Heights, New York. An independent lab has already
detected
> the toxin at levels close to the potentially fatal threshold of one
> part-per-billion, in fat near the tails of the crustaceans. Robert Bayer
of
> the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine agrees with Smith.
"There's
> no smoking gun, but it's very likely insecticides [are the cause]."
>
> Even if the insecticides are not directly killing the lobsters, they
> triggered the population crash, say other investigators. Richard French of
> the University of Connecticut and his colleagues found no evidence of
> bacterial, viral or fungal disease. But they discovered a Paramoeba
parasite
> in the nervous system of all the lobsters studied. "The insecticide
probably
> lowered their immune system, allowing the infection to overwhelm the
> population," says French. However, he has yet to prove the parasite
actually
> kills the lobsters.
>
> The EPA has now launched an investigation into the cause of the lobster
> crash. Scientists estimate it will take at least 10 years for the
population
> to recover. Hundreds of lobstermen, however, will never fish again. "The
next
> time I go on a boat," says Makowski, "it will be for pleasure only."
>
> Diane Martindale
>
> (10)
> Personal communication with Agricultural Program Director,
> Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, Sept 1, 2000:
>
> ...[Suffolk Co] lobster fishermen have filed a law suit against the
> pesticide companies
> because of the lobster die-off in LI Sound. The crab fishermen are
> doing the same in
> Great South Bay (southern LI). As these items make the news, there
> was a fish kill
> (apoxia) along the south shore with the same claim. This type of fish
> kill is rather
> common this time of year when the water is warmest and bluefish school and
> get caught in large numbers chasing bait into the harbors. ...
>
>
> --
> Lois Levitan, PhD Program Leader
> Environmental Risk Analysis Program
> Center for the Environment
> 213 Rice Hall, Cornell University
> Ithaca, New York USA 14853-5601
>
> Phone: (607) 255-4765 Fax: (607) 255-0238
> Email: LCL3@cornell.edu
>
> Program Email: envrisk@cornell.edu
> Web:http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/ERAP
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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