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suspend PCBs in the water column, giving them a chance to spread even further downstream.
“As far as an answer,” he conceded, “I’m not sure there is one.”
Richard Burton, executive director of the State Water Control Board, said, “Once it’s there, it’s there. It can get covered over with more silt, and the problem will eventually lesson. But it won’t go away.”
Burton also commented that when rivers are contaminated with PCB, even a complete kill of the toxic fish, and restocking with healthy fish, won’t solve the problem.
“Because it’s still there, the new fish get it, too,” he said.
Robert Serette left his home in Maryland last week for a long weekend fishing the Shenandoah. On Friday, he paid $30 for an out-of-state fishing license at Chester’s in Berry - ville. However, he said it wasn’t until he had already pulled in his first bass oh Saturday that he learned of the PCB pollution that has contaminated the river’s fish.
“Nobody at Chester’s told me anything about the problem, and since there’s no signs posted anywhere, I didn’t know,” he said. “Why isn’t the state requiring all license vendors to tell people about the problem?”
Serette said he feels the state is reluctant to publicize the PCB contamination, because it fears a substantial drop in the revenue fishing generates.
“That license was $15 last year; now it’s $30,” he said. “That’s a lot of money the state could lose. If I’d known about the ban, I would not have bought the license, and the state knows that.”
Although the State Water Conrtol Board has said that sport fishing can continue in the river, the Virginia Department of Health warned against consuming those fish because they contain unsafe levels of PCB, a known animal carcinogen.
James Harper, a local resident who fishes the Shenandoah year round, insisted, “There’s no use fishing if you can’t eat what you catch. I paid my $12 for a license. Next week I’m going back and ask for a refund. Maybe if the state quits getting license revenue, they’ll do something about this.”
Buck Martin, owner of a riverside tackle shop, said the ban has already had an adverse effect on his business. “Since that ban came out in the papers, I’ve only sold one box
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