Approaching Tappahannock from Fredericksburg, development and homes along the water's edge begin to appear. REBECCA SELL/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Chuck Epps (left) and Bill Portlock, with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, keep an eye out for wildlife along the Rappahannock River. They spent two days on the river to check its health. REBECCA SELL/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

A gauge measures pH. In some areas, oxygen levels were so low it would be hard for fish to live. REBECCA SELL/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Second day of trip down Rappahannock River shows declining health in waterway

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Date published: 8/14/2008

THE bones of the old work boat, a classic Chesapeake Bay deadrise, lie rotting on the shore of the small creek behind Morattico, once a thriving Rappahannock River fishing enclave.

It's a fitting symbol here in the Lancaster County community where stark white condos now rise up on the shoreline where oyster boats used to cruise in by the hundreds.

Feeling the squeeze: the small watermen's shacks. Nearby, pots used for catching hard crabs are on the shore, not in the water.

Said a crabber working peeler pots: "Most everyone has taken their hard crab pots out already. There aren't any crabs to catch out here."

Shaking his head in disgust, he added, "Can't get nothing for the ones you catch. And you burn through too much gas money."

The exchange put a somber tone on the second day of a trip last week from Fredericksburg to the Bay.

Two experienced staffers from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and I sought to get a feeling for the river's health.

We knew it would be hard to match the vitality we found last Thursday when we went 70 miles from city dock in Fredericksburg to Tappahannock.

But none of us were quite ready for the glum results we found in our 40-mile trek the following day.

Yes, we saw eagles, though not in the amazing numbers spotted on day one. We also saw a marked increase in osprey and even a gar near the mouth of Totuskey Creek in Richmond County.

But testing revealed oxygen levels in the water got progressively worse as we moved down river. In stretches, it was so low it would be hard for fish and even crabs to live.

We spotted what appeared to be an algae bloom, where nutrients caused algae to grow excessively, giving more than five miles of the river a dark stain.

As we moved, the narrow twists and turns of the upper river were replaced by wide reaches of the Rappahannock, with more pleasure boaters on the water and homes and riprap lining the shores.

The word on the river's health and commerce we got from those we encountered on the trip was decisively downbeat. Including:

This is the second of two articles looking at the health of the Rappahannock River.

Date published: 8/14/2008