The Mud River has long served as a fishing hub for southern West Virginia. But state health officials now advise residents to limit fish consumption from one of its reservoirs.
The Mud River has long served as a fishing hub for southern West Virginia. But state health officials now advise that residents limit their consumption of fish from one of its reservoirs due to a mineral contaminant.
On Tuesday, the West Virginia Department of Health implemented a new advisory for the Upper Mud Reservoir. They recommend residents not consume largemouth bass, white crappie, bluegill and green sunfish from the reservoir more than once per week.
The advisory comes in response to heightened levels of selenium detected in the reservoir. Selenium is a naturally occurring mineral that is safe in small doses.
But regularly consuming fish overexposed to selenium can cause health issues like selenosis — a condition linked to nervous system irregularities, fatigue and hair and nail damage.
The state Department of Health said its advisory is especially important for children, women of childbearing age and frequent fish consumers, all of whom are more susceptible to the contaminant.
Fish consumption advisories are updated annually, and will be adjusted as the water conditions change. For now, health officials said spacing out meals that contain fish from the reservoir is an important safety precaution.
his week on West Virginia Week we learn about a program to alleviate teacher shortages, splitting up the Department of Health and Human Resources along with opening up a long overdue section of the King Coal Highway.
On this West Virginia Week, we learn about a program to alleviate teacher shortages, splitting up the Department of Health and Human Resources along with opening up a long overdue section of the King Coal Highway.
We’ll also bring you more in-depth stories on fish in central Appalachia and a look at the woman behind the Kanawha School Book Controversy.
Eric Douglas is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caroline MacGregor, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Liz McCormick, and Randy Yohe.
They say there’s a lot of fish in the sea, but there’s also an awful lot of fish in the streams and rivers of Appalachia. A new book by fisheries research scientist, and WVU professor, Stuart Welsh showcases some of the lesser-known fish in the region. Bill Lynch spoke with Welsh about his book Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters.
They say there’s a lot of fish in the sea, but there’s also an awful lot of fish in the streams and rivers of Appalachia. A new book by fisheries research scientist, and WVU professor, Stuart Welsh showcases some of the lesser-known fish in the region. Bill Lynch spoke with Welsh about his book Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Lynch: Let’s talk about Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters. Describe what a hornyhead or a madtom or a darter is.
Welsh: Yeah, so hornyhead is a name for a group of minnows. And these are minnows that the males develop these little pointed horns on their head during the spawning season.
They develop these horns, grow these horns, and they use them to spar. They compete for females during the spawning season. In some ways, it’s similar to a white-tailed deer with antlers, in that, a deer grows its antlers and then loses the antlers after their breeding season.
It’s same situation with these hornyhead minnows. They grow these bumps on their head. They use them during the breeding season, and then they’re lost afterwards. Then, they they regrow them the following year.
Lynch: Madtoms: what are they like?
Welsh: Madtoms is a name for a group of catfish.
Most people, when you hear the word catfish, you think of big fish like channel catfish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, but madtoms are a group of catfishes. They do not get very large.
Their maximum size, depending on the species, may range from three to six inches in length.
Most people don’t see them because it’s not a fish that you would often catch on a hook and line. But we have quite a few different species of madtoms in the Appalachians.
They’re very interesting little fish and certainly worth telling a story about.
One thing I wanted to do with the book was to tell stories about these small fish. So, people can maybe understand them and get to know them a little bit better.
Lynch: You’re an ichthyologist? Is that correct?
Welsh: That’s correct.
Lynch: When, where, how did you first start taking an interest in fish?
Welsh: I think it was when I was a young kid, you know?
I really enjoyed fishing. And so, I spent a lot of time in creeks and, not necessarily fishing all the time, but flipping rocks and looking for crayfish, aquatic salamanders, and various critters.
I think that focus at an early age kind of sparked my interest. And I was able to keep it going into a career
Lynch: Kicking over rocks and fishing is one thing but academic study is something else. What kind of path is that?
Welsh: Well, it’s a long tedious path, I guess you would say. It requires a lot of graduate work. I got a B.S, degree at West Virginia University and then I went on to get a master’s degree at Frostburg State in fisheries management. And then I came back to West Virginia University for my Ph.D. where I was focused on fisheries work.
Lynch: How diverse is the fish population in central Appalachia?
Welsh: We have a lot of different kinds of fish.
For example, in West Virginia alone, which is certainly the heart of central Appalachia, we have a lot of species – 195.
So, there’s a lot of different kinds of fishes we have. And most people are familiar with the common ones, especially ones that you catch on rod and reel, but the smaller ones, a lot of people don’t know about them very much.
So, I think that’s one of the opportunities for a book like this is to provide information about this fish: to let people learn a little bit more about them.
Lynch: Talk about the book and putting it together.
Welsh: It’s a collection of stories on central Appalachian fishes.
There are stories on some familiar fish – like the native brook trout, the smallmouth bass, the bluegill sunfish. But then there’s also several stories on fishes that people know less about, such as in the title – hornyheads, madtoms and darters.
Also, there’s some fishes that are unusual that are discussed, like, for example, the lampreys, which are a group of fishes that are pretty small, but they have kind of an eel like body. Then you’ve got a fish called the trout perch that I talked about, which is really fascinating little fish of central Appalachia.
Lynch: How did you narrow down which fish you wanted to deal with?
Welsh: Yeah, that was a challenge because I find all the fishes that we have to be fascinating and interesting and worthy of a story.
But I tried to just focus on some of the fishes that I thought would make the most interesting stories, because what I wanted to do was to write stories that would be both educational but also interesting for a wide audience.
And so, I tried to select fishes that had an interesting story to be told often that was related to a certain type of behavior or maye a certain type of feeding strategy, a certain type of spawning strategy.
It was typically some aspect of that fish that I thought was interesting that I emphasized in the story.
Lynch: What do you hope an average reader takes away from your book?
Welsh: What I would hope is that people would realize central Appalachia has a diversity of fishes. That there’s a lot to be learned. You know, often when you know more about something, you care about it. My hope, in the end, is that this book will increase the conservation of fishes in the central Appalachians by making people more aware of the diversity that we have.
Lynch: The book is called Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters. Stuart Welsh, thank you very much.
Welsh: Thank you. I appreciate it.
A male candy darter. One of the fish featured in the book “Hornyheads, Madtoms, and Darters”
“Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters,” from Ohio University Press is available in bookstores.
On this West Virginia Morning, a new book by fisheries research scientist and West Virginia University (WVU) professor Stuart Welsh showcases some of the lesser-known kinds of fish in central Appalachia. Bill Lynch spoke with Welsh about his book Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters.
On this West Virginia Morning, a new book by fisheries research scientist and West Virginia University (WVU) professor Stuart Welsh showcases some of the lesser-known kinds of fish in central Appalachia. Bill Lynch spoke with Welsh about his book Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters.
Also, in this show, as the deadline to split the state agency looms, lawmakers discussed the possibility of overlap in West Virginia’s newly reorganized Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR). Emily Rice has more.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.
Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
The Biden administration has committed to investing in the nation’s infrastructure, and that includes natural infrastructure like rivers and waterways.
The Biden administration has committed to investing in the nation’s infrastructure, and that includes natural infrastructure like rivers and waterways.
The Department of the Interior announced Thursday that 40 fish passage projects will receive a total of nearly $38 million this year including projects in the mountain state.
The bipartisan infrastructure law will invest $200 million in the National Fish Passage Program over the next five years to address outdated, unsafe or obsolete dams and other barriers fragmenting our nation’s rivers and streams.
As part of the announcement, federal officials visited the Albright Power Station Dam in Preston County to discuss the dam’s removal and the positive impact it will have on neighboring communities.
Removing the obsolete dam, built in 1952 on the Cheat River, will help increase public access and recreational opportunities and improve public safety.
Engineering is underway, and removal is planned for 2023.
The state will also benefit from a Potomac Headwaters Restoration project that will remove 17 fish passage barriers across West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.
Thursday’s announcement comes on the heels of Monday’s launch of a separate $1 billion America the Beautiful Challenge that will accelerate locally led land, water and wildlife conservation efforts across the country.
The variety of fish species in the Ohio River has substantially increased since the 1960s, according to a new study.
A team of researchers from Ball State University and Virginia Tech examined almost 60 years of fish surveys collected by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, or ORSANCO.
The analysis, published last week in the journal PLOS ONE, examined ORSANCO-collected data from 1957-2014, as well as information on how land use near the river has changed over that time. Researchers found the number of species in the river varied from 31 to 90 each year, and increased over the decades studied.
Following the passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970s, the data showed more fish species variety in the Ohio River, said Ball State Biology Professor Mark Pyron, lead author of the study.
“I think that the overall positive attribute now is we know that the Clean Water Act had a really positive impact on the fishes in the river,” he said. “Maintaining water pollution standards, and controlling input of toxins to the river, is going to have a huge impact in the future on controlling or maintaining water quality and quality of life.”
He added this trend is observed at most rivers in the U.S. where long-term datasets on fish species or river quality exist.
While generally the variety of fish species in the Ohio River trended upward over time, Pyron also said the data showed the trend was not observed across all speices. For example, benthic intervertabors or insect-eating fish in the Wabash River, which runs through Ohio and Indiana, have increased according to similar data Pyron analyzed.
They was not observed in the Ohio, he said. In fact, they slightly declined.
The study also examined land use changes surrounding the Ohio River over the last 60 years. In general, the researchers found agriculture near the river has decreased, forested land increased and some dams have been modified — changes that have likely positively impacted fishes in the river, Pyron said.
He noted the study used high-level data and so the findings were largely correlations. Pyron said more research is needed to tease out what is impacting specific species across the river’s 981 mile stretch. Next, he hopes to examine changes upstream and downstream and changes in body size of fish species.
Jason DeBoer, an ecologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey who studies large river fisheries, said in an email that the findings were interesting and largely mirrored those from other rivers in the Midwest, although few have seen a decrease in agriculture near their banks like the Ohio River has.
However, DeBoer, who was not involved in the study, said the significance of the findings — a threefold increase in fish species as water pollution decreased and water quality improved — should not be understated.
“Importantly, the ‘splash’ of findings like these sends ripples far beyond river scientists in the Ohio River basin,” he said. He noted they should be important to politicians and state agencies that pass and implement water quality laws as well as to industries and residents that share resources from the Ohio River.
“These findings are important to other river scientists around the country or the globe, who may not have a 60-year data set like this, but who are inspired to form partnerships with sanitary districts or other water/sanitation management agencies that might,” he added.
Pyron said having access to ORSANCO’s long-term monitoring data was crucial to completing this first analysis.
“If you don’t have long-term databases like this, where people have collected the same data over a long period of time from the same location, you can’t ask questions about whether things are changing or not. You can’t ask whether there’s some impact of [the] activities that we’ve done,” he said. “The only way to ask those questions is to have those long term datasets. So, we need to maintain ORSANCO for example collecting these data into the future so we know what’s going on with our ecosystems.”
