The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) will conduct fisheries surveys and sampling for fish health assessments on the Kanawha and Elk rivers during the week of August 25, according to Bret Preston, Assistant Chief of the Wildlife Resources Section.
The Kanawha River fish collection is a component of a statewide fish health assessment project in cooperation with the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service’s Northeast Fishery Center in Lamar, Pennsylvania.
The Elk River fish collection will be conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Fish Health Laboratory in Leetown, West, Virginia, and is the result of fish health monitoring following the MCHM spill in January. No fish kills were observed after the spill in January and this effort will look at possible health impacts in the area of the spill.
