news-record.com

BURLINGTON (MCT) - Mack McCorkle Jr. said dead fish floating in the Haw River were about the last thing he expected to see Friday morning when he decided to go fishing with some of his friends.

''It was the worst I have seen the river in 30 years," said McCorkle, who lives in Alamance County. "It smelled like sewage out there."

McCorkle entered the river near the Indian Valley golf course in a canoe and said he soon realized this trip would be different than other trips he had taken on the water. For about the first four miles everything seemed normal, but then he noticed decomposing fish floating on the water.

''It looked like the fish had been dead for about two or three days," he said.

Haw River Outfitters owner Todd Blair first saw dead fish floating in the Haw River on Sunday and reported the fish kill to state water quality officials immediately. Blair was leading a group of people on a kayak and canoe tour down the river.

''We put our boats in at Gerringer Mill Road," Blair said. "We soon saw some catfish floating in the water."

Blair said some of the fish appeared to be gasping for air. Some fishermen nearby told him they had seen about 400 dead fish float by Sunday.

''We saw the dead fish all day, too," Blair said.

According to N.C. Division of Water Quality spokeswoman Susan Massengale, a fish kill occurred upstream on the Haw River near Glencoe on Sunday, but officials didn't know about the kill until Wednesday afternoon.

Several of the tributaries leading into the Haw River were littered with dead fish as well this week, according to officials.

''Someone called us about seeing 60 stressed fish and dead fish," Massengale said. "We went out Thursday and found 150 dead fish trapped at Reedy Fork Creek near highway 87."

Massengale said officials were unable to determine the cause and size of the fish kill since too much time had elapsed from when the kill was first discovered Sunday and when they first learned of the incident Wednesday afternoon.

N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resource program consultant Steve Mauney spent time on the Haw River and its tributaries Thursday and Friday investigating the fish kill.

''We checked about 500 yards of the river on either side of several bridge access areas," Mauney said. "There were no dead fish showing up in South Buffalo Creek."

However, Mauney said officials did spot several dead fish floating in North Buffalo Creek. Officials don't plan to head back to the river this weekend to check for any more dead fish.

''It would be fruitless to go back out again," Mauney said. "We already spent two days out there. There is no way to make an air tight case for the cause of the fish kill."

Mauney said a 1.45 million gallon sewage spill July 14 at South Buffalo Creek a couple miles from the fish kill site couldn't be blamed for what happened this week.

Elaine Chiosso, Haw Riverkeeper and director of the Haw River Assembly, said she had received several phone calls about the fish kill and believed whatever was left from the kill would continue to float downstream.

''We usually don't see dead fish at all," she said. "The water quality officials can't substantiate what caused it."