WILKES-BARRE -- After a smallmouth bass caught in the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg turned out to have cancer, the debate over whether the river is making the fish sick has heated up.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission says yes, but the Department of Environmental protection says no.
The people at the Fish and Boat Commission say the fish are speaking up for themselves. For years they found smallmouth bass with sores and lesions, and now cancer. They're asking DEP to declare the river "impaired" so it would be eligible for federal cleanup money.
But so far the DEP says that's not necessary.
The Susquehanna River is one of the longest rivers in the United States and it runs through much of Pennsylvania. While many people fish in the river, some, like Kenneth Rowles of Plymouth Township, question what's going on with the fish in it.
"I've seen too many fish that were messed up coming out of that water. Every catfish I caught this year had a little parasite on the tail," Rowles said.
Recently, a smallmouth bass pulled from the river in the Harrisburg area, tested positive for a cancerous tumor on its lip.
Now the state Fish and Boat Commission says the evidence couldn't be more apparent that pollution is doing something to the fish.
In a statement the commission said:
"Since 2012, the PFBC has unsuccessfully petitioned the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to add the river to the state's biannual list of impaired waterways.
"We've known the river has been sick since 2005, when we first started seeing lesions on the smallmouth. Now we have more evidence to further the case for impairment."
The DEP says there is no evidence yet that proves the water in this river has anything to do with the diseased fish.
The head of the DEP said in a statement:
"We continue to work in partnership with PFBC to use a science-based approach to determining the causes of impacts to fish health in the Susquehanna.
"Science will guide all of our work in assessing the overall health of the river."
Professor Dale Bruns, an environmental scientist at Wilkes University, thinks the river could use some help.
"I understand where DEP is coming from. They may be understaffed to take on. But I really agree with the Fish and Boat Commission. If it goes on the impaired list, we'll get a better handle on what the problems are, the complexity of the issue, and have a way forward," said Bruns.
The Fish and Boat Commission is again asking DEP to put this river on the U.S. Environmental Protection's impaired rivers list this upcoming fall. That will help get federal money to clean up the river and put more restriction on pollutants that go in it.
