World Journal Finds Pollution Killing Much Marine Life

November 3, 2006

HUDSON—A candidate for the Caldwell Soil & Water Conservation board in next Tuesday’s election says a report in this week’s international journal, Science, “makes it clear that pollution is killing marine life throughout the world, including right here in Caldwell County.”

Dennis A. Benfield of Hudson, an outspoken opponent of the recent proposed inter-basin transfer of water from the Catawba River to benefit Concord and Kannapolis, said the current trend of worldwide water-borne pollutants “could cause the collapse of most major populations of seafood species by mid-century.”

An international team of marine ecologists and economists has studied a series of 32 major experiments the last four years in the oceans, the Great Lakes and “other lakes, rivers and freshwaters,” Science reports in Friday’s edition.

Besides pollution, the worldwide disappearance of seafood species is made worse by over-fishing, the scientists found.

“At this point,” the journal said, “29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed, that is, their catch has decreased by 90 percent. It is a clear trend, and it is accelerating,” one scientist said, predicting “all fish and seafood species…to collapse…by 2048.”

“To even the casual observer,” Benfield added, “the ponds, lakes, small streams and large streams in Caldwell County are now missing many species of minnows, spring lizards, crayfish and other marine life that were plentiful only a few decades ago, when I was a boy playing in a creek behind my house.

“Pollution by industry and agriculture, mostly in fertilizers and herbicides moved along by storm-water runoff, is a serious problem throughout our area,” he said, “and we’re not doing nearly enough about it.”

“Lake Rhodhiss already is classified as ‘impaired’ by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—and at this time, that lake is Caldwell County’s primary source of drinking water,” Benfield pointed out.

“I’m not a scientist, but I do have eyes—so I know our own streams are losing some forms of marine life. I have many friends out there, too, who report the same result in their local streams.”

The Caldwell Soil & Water Conservation District encourages local land users and landowners to voluntarily use wise soil and water conservation practices in their agrarian pursuits. In some cases, funds are available through government agencies to help with the changes needed.