"Poisoned waters" - Frontline

[FlyRichardFly]

Tonight on Frontline was a very shocking show called "Poisoned Waters"
It covered the Chesapeake and the Susquehanna..... where I fish all the time.
Everything is in a huge decline, oysters are almost gone and most fish are sick.
All the chicken farm polluters blame somebody else, and all the chemicals we use get washed into the creeks and bays.
A very sad show for me to see. The pollution in the Susquehanna has the male bass with female parts now. I fly fish there all the time, and I see huge declines every year. I have seen thousands of mature dead smallmouth floating down the river. I have seen a white fungus on a lot of bass I catch.
They talk and talk, but there is really no solution. Overpopulation and concrete on every square inch of land washes all the crap to the nearest stream. Too many houses and too many cars!
And way too many people!
In the show, when they find a source of pollution, usually PCB's, they are afraid to demand that the poison won't be put in the water anymore.
Even Mr Perdue was on the show. He said he is a businessman and the farmers are responsible for the chemicals in the water..... not him!!
Even the west coast, everything is in a sharp decline.
So sad to see. Even if I use barbless hooks and release everything I catch, it doesn't look that great for the future.
I still love to flyfish, but if I slip and fall in the water, I'll go home a take a soapy shower and go to the doctor to get a shot.
One great point mentioned in the show: Our wetlands are a national treasure, but we use them as sewage dumps!!
Fresh water is essential for life on this planet.
I think it's too late myself. But I still have fun casting a top shelf rod with a homemade fly and if I have to walk a long way to get away from all the people....... well it's good exercise!
Anyone see the show? What do you longrodders think?

 

[Rip Tide]

I missed the show last night so I watched it on line here

FRONTLINE: poisoned waters | PBS

Disturbing stuff, but important to watch

 

[Merlin]

Silly me, I thought this kind of pollution was over. As a youth I watched the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland burning.

I watched night after night on TV, Chief Iron Eyes Cody cry tears while paddling up the polluted river.

Guess something's never change?

 

[fyshstykr]

I watched night after night on TV, Chief Iron Eyes Cody cry tears while paddling up the polluted river.

Guess something's never change?

Oh my heck!!! I remember those commercials from when I was just a kid. I wish they would bring it back.

Really sad that we are slowly killing our planet, and ourselves.

 

[FrankB2]

Thanks for pointing out the show FRF, and the link RipTide.

I think that much of the clean up has been cosmetic, and the Exxon Valdez
spill still plagues parts of Alaska. What's happening in the Chesapeake Bay
is our fault, so let's make ourselves heard. I eat a lot of chicken from Pennsylvania, and every delicious bite is a bit hard to swallow knowing what
I know. Turning that knowledge into action can be tough, but a journey of
a thousand miles begins with a single step, and all that .

As I fished the local lake this afternoon, I had to wonder if the the green
tide moving toward me was pollen, or something more sinister. It was pollen
for sure, but this is the fear many people have developed of nature! I was
watching a TV program last night, and they were showing the treatment
plant that removes rocket fuel from an aquifer (somewhere in the U.S.,
and a HUGE amount of water daily).

What do I do to help? I make as few car trips as possible, and fish the local
waters as often as I can. The parking lot to a great creek is exactly one
mile frrom my driveway, and I'd much rather fish there than drive 100 miles
roundtrip to the stream my wife enjoys....??? I do all the other things we
all try to do to conserve energy at home, and I suspect that many do this
to save themselves money: an action that has monthly, tangible benefits.
If we could apply this same sort of thing to large sources of pollution, I'm
sure we'd see a drop. Rather than worrying about pirates, local, state, and
federal resources should be used to find a solution to chicken crap, etc.

I've mentioned in the "Made in China" thread that the large scale manufacturing that made America great, also resulted in horrendous pollution,
pollution that the Chinese are now enjoying. Cleaner methods of manufacturing might bring some of those industries back here. Batteries are
one of the worst, and while we don't make many here, we throw them in
landfills by the zillions. Use rechargeables as much as possible. I have a few
handcrank LED flashlights, and they've come a long way in brightness.

I remember when seeing a family throw their McDonalds trash out of a moving
car wasn't any big deal. We still produce the trash (and then some!), however, but it's moved neatly out of sight....for now. The local landfill
began taking trash from New Jersey and New York, and looks like a mountain
range now.....SERIOUSLY! The water run-off from that mess goes directly
into the Delaware River. The landfill was built on the banks of the Delaware
below Trenton, NJ, and it's growing along the river. I see the little fish
symbols spray painted in front of storm drains, but if those people ever saw
the deluge of blue-green effluent run off the landfill, they'd leave their spray
cans at home.....etc......

 

[FlyRichardFly]

Frank,
You are certainly welcome. I point out the shows that show how our planet is changing.
I find it interesting, and very sad the way things are going.
I now live in central Pa, York, but I used to live not far from you Frank. I lived in Doylestown and went to high school at Central Bucks.
Back then all the small trout streams were clear and clean and loaded with fish. Even 611 going all the way up the Del river was a fishing paradise.
When it used to rain when I was a kid, the water would rise but still be crystal clear!
When I look at things now, the wonderful fishing is only a memory.
Overpopulation with too many houses and too many roads. Farming is different now. I'll bet that you never saw a "hedgerow" at the end of a field. Ringneck pheasants were so common, you had to be careful that you didn't run over them on the back roads.
I haven't seen a pheasant in thirty years around Doylestown...... all I see is strip malls and new housing developments.

 

[FrankB2]

Yup

I grew up in Newtown and Yardley, and don't even recognize those areas now! I forgot to mention fertilizer run-off from the zillion new homes, but isn't
it ironic that people moved to those areas for the country like setting (farms,
few homes, lots of wooded areas), and now it's overcrowded . I used to
drive a mile or two down Yardly-Langhorne road, park on the side of the road
and go hunting. That's completely gone (100%) now. It was 30 years ago, but I'm in my 40's still.

Like I said in my earlier post, we're the consumers, and we bear much of the
blame. Now I need to figure out what to do that has some real impact. I
remember looking in on town meeting in Newtown, and seeing the people
vote down the opening of convenience stores on a weekly basis. It wasn't
until a few years after we moved to Yardley, that Yardley gave permission
to open a Wawa store. The developers weren't interested in changing main
street, however, and focused all of their efforts on buying every farm (except
one or two), and then building as many homes as possible. Toll Brothers
became a dirty word with us.....

 

[Ard]

Fly Richard,

Thank you for your and our other members sentiments on the sad state of affairs our waters are in. I worked as a legislative liaison for the Audubon Society & The National Clean Air Coalition during the early years of the Regan administration 1983 - 1987. I can tell you that people have been trying to turn the tide of destruction since way before I became involved. I had to end my involvement in the business of worrying about the environment of the future because it was ruining my quality of life. I could see no beauty anywhere, only things waiting quietly to be destroyed.

It is sad but we must learn to adapt with the changing world in which we live because we can never stop that guy from dumping the oil he changed from his car or truck over the bank at the back of his lot. We can try but in the end you better get out and build your memories while you still can get materials.

I'm watching as the people of Alaska tear this place up, it is very sad.

Ard

P.S. I grew up in Pa. on the Susquehanna and lived in Portsmouth VA. for a couple years. I know the neighborhood.

 

[FlyRichardFly]

Fly Richard,
We can try but in the end you better get out and build your memories while you still can get materials.

You think like I do Harty. Every year the creeks keep getting lower and more polluted here in south PA, and stinkin' buildings on every square inch of ground, and all the dead fish I see floating, and all the plastic and worm containers used to make me sick.
But I know, like you do, that soon almost everything will be gone.
Today I just purchased a 1wt Superfine Orvis fly rod. Still some small trout left and some small chubs....... that's enough to make me happy!!
I have a ball tying some killer stoneflies #16, with MP3's playing in the background on my Mac, and a glass or three of fine chilled wine to calm me down. When I go bass fishing, I drink Michelob! I'll use my new creations on my new rod tomorrow with a 7X.
I have to enjoy what is left with fishing. I'm in my early 60's and I've been saying that for a long time.
Longrods forever