waters that the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, a venerable scientific
organization de vote d to the s tudy of fis hes , reptiles , and amphibians , pas sed a res olution in
1958 calling on the Department of Agriculture and the associated state agencies to cease ‘aerial
dis tribution of heptachlor, dieldrin, and equivalent pois ons—bef ore irrepa rable harm is done.’
The Society called attention to the great variety of species of fish and other forms of life
inhabiting the s outheas tern part of the United States , including s pecies that occur nowhe re els e
in the world. ‘Many of thes e animals ,’ the Society warne d, ‘occupy only small areas and
theref ore might readily be completely exterminated.’ Fis hes of the s outhern s tates have als o
s uffered heavily from ins ecticides us ed agains t cotton ins ects. The s ummer of 1950 was a
seas on of dis as ter in the cotton-growing country of northern Alabama. Before that year, only
limited use had been made of organic ins ecticides for the control of the boll weevil. But in 1950
there were ma ny weevils because of a series of mild winters, and so an es timated 80 to 95 per
cent of the farmers , on the urging of the county agents , turned to the us e of ins ecticides. The
chemical mos t popular with the farmers was toxaphene, one of the mos t des tructive to fis hes.
Rains were frequent and heavy that s umme r. They was hed the che micals into the s trea ms , and
as this happened the farmers applied more. An average acre of cotton that year received 63
pounds of toxaphene. Some farme rs us ed as much as 200 pounds per acre; one, in an
extraordinary excess of zeal, applied more than a qua rte r of a ton to the acre. The res ults could
eas ily have been fores een. What happened in Flint Creek, flowing through 50 miles of Alabama
cotton country before e mptying into W heeler Res ervoir, was typical of the region. On A ugus t 1,
torren ts of rain descended on the Flint Creek waters hed. In trickles , in rivulets , and finally in
floods the wate r poured off the land i nto the streams. The water level rose six inches in Flint
Creek. By the next morni ng it was obvious that a great deal more than rain had been carried
into the stream. Fish swam about in aimless circles near the surface. Sometimes one would
throw its elf out of the water onto the bank. They could easily be caught; one farmer picked up
s everal and took the m to a s pring-fed pool. There, in the pure water, these few recovered. But
in the stream dead fish floated down all day. This was but the prelude to more, f or each rain
was hed more of the ins ecticide into the rive r, killing more fis h. The rain of Augus t 10 res ulted in
s uch a heavy fis h kill throughout the rive r that few remained to become victims of the next
s urge of pois on into the s tream, which occurred on Augus t 15. But evidence of the deadly
pres ence of the che micals was obtained by placing test goldfish in cages in the river; they were
dead within a day.
The doome d fis h of Flint Creek i ncluded large numbers of white crappies , a favorite among
anglers. Dead bass and s unfis h were als o found, occurring abundantly in Wheeler Res ervoir,
into which the creek flows. All the rough-fish population of thes e waters was des troyed als o—
the carp, buffalo, drum, gizzard s had, and catfis h. None s howed s igns of disease—only the
erratic moveme nts of the dying and a s trange deep wine color of the gills. In the warm enclos ed
waters of farm ponds, conditions are very likely to be lethal for fish when insecticides are
applied in the vicinity. As many examples s how, the pois on is carried in by rains and runoff from
s urrounding lands. Someti mes the ponds receive not only contaminate d runoff but als o a direct
dos e as crop-dus ting pilots neglect to s hut off the dus ter in pass ing over a pond. Even without
such complications, normal agricultural use subjects fish to far heavier c oncentrations of
chemicals than would be required to kill them. In othe r words , a marked reduc tion in the
poundages us ed would hardly alter the lethal s ituation, for applications of over 0.1 pound per
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