Des Moines Register
03/05/06
Poor water quality clouds fishing, tourism
A state commission is trying to bring Iowa into compliance with the federal
Clean Water Act.
PERRY BEEMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Iowa's poor water quality hampers the state's multi-million-dollar fishing industry.
The silt, farm chemicals, manure and treated sewage in Iowa's rivers and
streams hold back fish populations by making it difficult for some game fish to
reproduce.
So the state spends $2.5 million stocking more than 140 million game fish in
Iowa streams every year to improve fishing.
But it may be losing even more money than that in tourism revenue. More than
half a million anglers spent $336 million in Iowa in 2001 — a figure that is
significantly lower than some of its neighboring states. Fishing-license sales are
down in Iowa. On the other hand, the popularity of the state's clear-running
northeastern trout streams show the potential for a bigger draw. So does the 10fold increase in attendance at Lake Ahquabi near Indianola, after that lake was
restored.
If the streams were cleaner, more people would fish in Iowa, said fly-fisherman
Ryan Maas of Iowa City.
"I fish actively, and I hunt actively," said Maas, 30. "We want to stay in Iowa for
the quality of life, but Iowa is having problems retaining folks in our demographic.
We're losing those folks to places where they value things like water quality."
A state commission approved new rules that would force Iowa to comply with the
1972 federal Clean Water Act, which demands that all rivers be protected for
recreation and aquatic life, unless studies show that's impossible. But some state
lawmakers have discussed blocking the rules before they take effect.
A legislative committee approved a compromise bill last week. Which rules end
up being adopted will affect Iowa recreation, tourism and communities' financial
health.
The Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association was one of the key groups lobbying for the
new river-pollution rules proposal.
Ron Stahlberg, 43, of North Liberty, group president, said the issue should be
important to Iowans, whether or not they fish.
"Not only does it impact fishing directly, but quality of life in general," Stahlberg
said.
One Iowa State University study found that places with better recreational
offerings had faster-rising incomes. Another ISU study found that poll
respondents said they would increase their visits to lakes and rivers if they were
significantly cleaner.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study found that the fishing business in Iowa is
considerably higher than in Nebraska and the Dakotas, but only a fraction of the
action in Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio. A state's geology, and how the
land is used, can make a big difference in fish populations.
Iowa ranks about in the middle nationally in number of fish species, with the
Southeastern states having the most, said state biologist Tom Wilton. Iowa has
102 fish species; North Carolina reports more than 200 species, and Wyoming
logs 79.
"We have some waters that aren't faring well at all, and others that are clearly a
notch above average," Wilton said.
State fish affected
When George Marzeck suggested that Iowa legislators designate a state fish, he
didn't necessarily intend for his candidate — the channel catfish — to be a
symbol of Iowa's polluted waters.
"The channel catfish prefers clean, clear water, but it's tough enough to put up
with a lot of crap," Marzeck, of West Burlington, told legislators.
But without the state's stocking program, Iowa wouldn't have channel catfish,
according to state fisheries chief Marion Conover. Those fish are among the
species that need a rocky-bottomed waterway for reproduction.
Instead, the fish face silty lake and river bottoms — a product of soil washing off
farm fields and eroded land into streams.
Silt kills fish eggs. That hurts reproduction. So does getting eaten by bass, which
love catfish.
"We wouldn't have any channel cats if we didn't stock them," Conover said.
Once released into Iowa rivers that are polluted with silt, farm chemicals, manure
and treated sewage water, the catfish grows well, as do walleyes, another
popular sport fish that has trouble reproducing in Iowa.
Fish population diminished
Iowa's biologists, who check dozens of stream stretches a year, between 2002
and 2004 ranked Iowa's streams "fair," rather than "good" or "excellent." That
meant the fish populations were inconsistent and the number of disease
outbreaks was higher than normal.
Lakes and rivers go through a natural dying process that can be accelerated
when a lot of soil and chemicals run into them. That sets off large algae blooms
that deplete oxygen, leading to fish kills. Manure spills, sewage and fertilizer
runoff can harm or kill fish and aquatic plants.
Iowa's fish populations are already skewed toward species such as carp that can
take a lot of abuse, state reports show.
Biologists have found 102 fish species in Iowa rivers and suspect that there are
148 species. Minnows account for 70 percent of the total number of fish pulled
from the streams in the study by biologists.
Biologists haven't been able to quantify how Iowa's fish population has declined.
It's hard to get an idea of what Iowa's waterways were like decades ago,
because records are spotty. But biologists seem to agree the state used to have
more species than it does now.
An ISU study that found a decline in the number of mussels, or clams, was a sign
of trouble.
Iowa once had clams a foot deep in some stream stretches, and the state had 55
species. An ISU study found that by 1998, the highest number of species found
at a site was 22, and nearly half the sites checked had no clams at all.
The species of fish that are left in Iowa rivers today are those able to survive
spills, sewage and other pollution that caused many of the 367 fish kills in the
state since 1995.
Cool, clear streams
There are a few anecdotes that suggest that Iowa water once had many more
fish and a plethora of game fish.
An article in the May 20, 1880, Decorah Republican described the large number
of fish in a local stream after a heavy rain. "Perhaps millions is an exaggeration,
but the numbers were so large that there was no skill whatever necessary to
secure a wagon-load in a very short time." The paper reported catches of 14pound pickerel and many 3- and 4-pound bass.
And Charles Dyke's book "The Story of Sioux County" refers to brook trout in
northwest Iowa's Floyd River.
"It was 10 feet deep, or even deeper in places, and the water was so clear that
when we dropped a white bean in it we could see it settle on the sand and gravel
bottom," Dyke wrote.
Trout now are found only in northeastern Iowa. Visibility in Iowa waters can be 3
feet or less in places. The rock and gravel bottoms of many Iowa rivers are
covered with silt.
On the other hand, clear streams in nine far northeastern Iowa counties support
wild and stocked trout.
"The farmers in this state have really changed their practices and have improved
water quality," said fisherman Jeff Moore, 45, of Marion, a life-long Iowan. "I've
seen streams that were marginal turn around, and now there is viable
reproduction in these streams where it wasn't supported before."
Dave Ratliff of Coralville, another fisherman, hopes the state can improve its
water quality.
"I grew up in Wyoming and Colorado, and what we called clean water there isn't
what we have here," he said. "I could see into the water there. Around here, I
can't."