SENATE OF MARYLAND

ANNAPOLIS. MARYLAND 214O1-1991

By Sen. Roy Dyson

Tours of two facilities recently brought home to me the seriousness and complexity of the pfiesteria problem. The two facilities, the Maryland Food Center in Jessup and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, may not on the surface appear connected. Yet the first is being deeply impacted by the pfiesteria problem and the second, while it should be involved in the solution, as of yet has not been.

I visited the Maryland Food Center first with other members of the Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee, which I serve on in Annapolis. This imposing 400-acre facility is home to such companies as Giant Food and Smelkinson Sysco as well as the Maryland Wholesale Produce and Seafood Markets.

It was the tour of the Maryland Wholesale Seafood Market which really got me to thinking about pfiesteria. The market is home to many Maryland seafood merchants, some of whom have been in business since the turn of the century. It was originally in downtown Baltimore near the Inner Harbor, but was moved to Jessup in 1984. In the 112,000-square-foot warehouse the seafood merchants have the capability of distributing millions of pounds of seafood products annually.

Yet as I walked around the warehouse the committee members were told there were no fish from Maryland there. They were from every other state but Maryland. The reason: no one is buying Maryland seafood because of the pfiesteria scare.

In an earlier column I noted the seriousness of the problem. Indeed it is serious. And there have been indications of a threat to human health. But so far that threat has been from contact to pfiesteria-infested waters, not from eating fish which have been in those waters.

Obviously anyone in their right mind wouldn't eat a fish which had lesions or sores. Yet fish found with such sores are already dead because pfiesteria when it attacks fish kills them quickly. It has always been a rule of thumb never to harvest a dead fish. That same rule applies here.

There has been nothing conclusive from scientists about the effect of cooking a fish, or any other seafood which comes into contact with pfiesteria-infested water. More research needs to be done on this subject. But none of the experts, and there seem to be many who have become experts quickly, have issued any warnings about eating seafood which has not been attacked by pfiesteria.

That brings me to the second tour. A old friend of mine, Captain Bill Sontag (famous for his chain saw carving) called me the other day with a suggestion. He is retired from the Smithsonian Institute and he told me about experts the Smithsonian had on the subject of Bay sediment. Pfiesteria appear to live in the sediment until released by something, possibility an overabundance of nutrients. Bill suggested I pay a visit to talk to these folks.

So one recent afternoon I traveled to southern Anne Arundel County to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. I was treated very hospitably by Assistant Director Anson Hines and a team of scientists who gave me a tour of the facility and talked to me about pfiesteria. Except for being invited to sit in on a few meetings, these scientists have not been asked so far to participate in the pfiesteria research. This seems to me to be an error of omission which should be corrected. I was told one thing which really stuck in my mind long after the visit was over. They say that we should not expect an easy and quick answer to what is causing the pfiesteria attacks on fish. Some people are quick to blame hog farmers on the Eastern Shore. Although a massive dike break on a hog farm in North Carolina is believed to have been the cause on one fish kill there, there is so far no major incident such as that to point a finger at here in Maryland.

This is something that will take careful scientific research and investigation, the scientists say. It is believed that pfiesteria has been around for a long time and may even in fact be an integral part of nature. The red tides of years past may have been a form of pfiesteria which we didn't know about. Let's find the answers before we make sweeping generalizations which lead to the unnecessary and unfair harm to whole industries, such as the seafood and poultry.

Granted we need to err on the side of human health. But there is no evidence that Maryland seafood in causing any harm to human health. The seafood industry is one which always teeters on the brink between success and failure. One blow such as this could be a death blow to many watermen.

The governor has set a good example in this regard. While closing the Pocomoke out of concern for human health because of the danger of human contact, he also took the leadership by eating Maryland seafood in public. The evidence supports both of those actions. I myself see no human health threat to eating Maryland seafood. That will be my recommendation to you and to anyone else who asks me.

I also will recommend that we forge ahead vigorously in research and that we get everyone who can contribute involved, including the Smithsonian facility near Annapolis as well as our own Chesapeake Biological Lab in Solomons.