Lobster
Die-Off Linked to West Nile Virus Pesticides
(from March 11, 2003)
Scientific data released Friday, March 7, 2003 shows that it takes far
less pesticide than previously thought to kill adult lobsters, according
to the Connecticut
Post. Lobstermen say these data provide concrete evidence that
pesticides used in spray programs to combat West Nile virus caused the
massive 1999 lobster die-off in Long Island Sound. Meanwhile, in a 42-page
decision, U.S. District Judge Thomas C. Platt certified as a class on
February 28, 2003 any lobstermen who had valid harvesting licenses from
the states of New York or Connecticut and who, beginning in September
1999, suffered damages. It is expected that 300 commercial lobstermen
will join the class, which is suing four chemical manufacturers or distributors
who sold the chemicals placed in storm drains or sprayed by helicopter
or truck in New York and Connecticut.
"It really doesn't take much to kill lobsters," pathobiologist Sylvain DeGuise told attendees at the Long Island Sound Health Symposium. Researchers at University of Connecticut found a mere 33 parts-per-billion of methoprene killed off half the lobsters in a 20-gallon tank. "That's [equivalent] to one drop in a billion, or one person in China," DeGuise said.
Methoprene
is an insect growth regulator, which is applied to many home and community
pest control problems as a general use, slow-acting insecticide. This
chemical has been used to control a number of pests, including mosquitoes
(AltosidTM).Pathobiologists also want to analyze the impact of other
pesticides such as resmethrin and malathion in both juvenile and adult
lobster mortality.
The lobstermen at the conference used DeGuise's report to hammer state
officials into disclosing how much malathion, resmethrin and other pesticides
Connecticut applied in 1999 to fend off West Nile mosquitoes. That information,
the lobstermen say, has never been turned over to the public.
By contrast, state law in New York requires the state Department of Health to maintain a database of all pesticide applications anywhere in New York. The database, however, is only accessible to researchers. "It's an incredibly unwieldy database. You have to input the zip code you're looking at, a range of dates, as well as all of the [known] names for a given pesticide," said Karen Chytalo, a Department of Environmental Conservation marine habitat and protection section chief.
DeGuise said researchers
are interested in knowing how much pesticide may have flowed into Long
Island Sound in 1999 when West Nile fever first emerged in New York.
Unfortunately, the lobsters are gone for good. However, the Long Island
Sound Lobster Association concern is the revitalization of this species.
The association wants to know where all this information exhibiting
harmful impacts on lobsters is headed. DeGuise responded that researchers
hoped to provide "building blocks for better management" of
the lobster habitat, as well as "hard data that can not be brushed
off by anyone."