On Friday, the House of Delegates passed the 2004-06 “Caboose” Appropriations Act that includes $30,000 for the Shenandoah River Fish Kill Task Force by a vote of 91-1.

The House Bill will now go to the Senate for consideration. Passage of the legislation will amend portions of the 2004-06 biennial budget and appropriate funds for the remainder of the budget cycle that ends June 13.

Paying the bills
Last month, the task force began studying the river in the hopes of finding the cause of recent fish kills.

A fish kill last year in the South Fork of the Shenandoah River resulted in the loss of about 80 percent of the river’s adult small-mouth bass and redbreast sunfish, according to the Department of Environmental Quality.

Another kill occurred two years ago in the North Fork of the river.

So far this year, task force members have found about 50 dead smallmouth bass at various locations in the Shenandoah River.

The task force began work in March of this year to study potential causes of the kill. The money allocated by the General Assembly will fund the work that has already been done.

“This is basically helping us pay the bills that we’ve already incurred,” said Don Kain of the DEQ’s Valley office. “We have proceeded with our studies in good faith, hoping to get approval from the General Assembly.”

Kain said officials with the task force have conducted numerous studies including daily monitoring at nine sites on the river, continuous monitoring of ammonia levels and studies of fish health.

Securing the funds
“Thanks to the efforts of the task force and DEQ we are working to improve the water quality and prevent further fish kills,” said Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton. “This has long been a concern for all Virginians who wish to rehabilitate the waters of the Shenandoah.”

Saxman spearheaded the effort to secure funding for the task force.

“These funds provide a great step forward in helping the task force,” he said. “It can now reach its goal of identifying causes of the fish kills and communicating their findings to those who can implement corrective actions.”

The next budget
Kain said that the next step for the task force is to gain an additional $200,000 in the next budget cycle. The 2006-07 budget takes effect July 1.

“Our proposal was for a total of $200,000,” he said. “The money we just received is for the work that we had already done.”

While no official causes of the fish kill have been named, Kain is hopeful the situation will soon improve.

“There were no new reports on the South River in the last week,” he said. “We saw no dead or diseased fish in the South Fork of the Shenandoah, either.”

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