Are Some Bass Feminized?

Are Some Male bass, “Feminized?”

By: Matt Keith

The Associated Press (Mon Sep 14,2009) put out a news article on studies by the U.S. Geological Survey showing that male bass in some areas are “feminized.” (Highlights appear below this article)

It seems that Americans take so many prescription drugs that some parts or byproducts of them are being flushed, and disposed of into our landfills and river systems.

Estrogen (the primary female sex hormone) is linked as one of the main causes.

As a child I was taught a very important rule to enjoying the outdoors. “Pack out More than you Pack in.” Meaning NEVER leave anything (like garbage) behind and pickup any one’s garbage you see left behind. Nothing like seeing a beer cans or diaper floating along the shore where you are hiking or about to cast!

But what can we do to stop this? Obviously people need medicine. Do we come up with another scientific method to remove estrogen from the fish? Can we make a Nano-Bot like they have on the SCI-FI shows that only attack estrogen in the water? Using chemicals on the water to achieve some proposed “other good” scares me. I remember when the government intentionally POISENED a lake in Northern California to remove the non-native Northern Pike that was found in it. A long story short- Mother Nature and mistakes killed most of the trout and made the lake unsafe for two seasons. They tried several times and the Pike still survive in the lake today!

Thoughts?

WASHINGTON – Government scientists figure that one out of five male black bass in American river basins have egg cells growing inside their sexual organs, a sign of how widespread fish feminizing has become. The agency looked at past data from nine river basins — covering about two-thirds of the country — and found that about 6 percent of the nearly 1,500 male fish had a bit of female in them. The study looked at 16 different species, with most not affected. But the fish most feminized are two of the most sought-after freshwater sportfish: the largemouth and smallmouth, which are part of the black bass family. 44 percent of the sites where black bass were tested had at least one male with egg cells growing inside. Past studies have linked the problem to endocrine-disrupting hormones, such as estrogen from women’s medicines. While the fish can still reproduce, studies have shown they don’t reproduce as well, Hinck said. The Southeast, especially the Pee Dee River Basin in North and South Carolina, had the highest rates of feminization. In Bucksport, S.C., 10 of 11 largemouth bass examined were intersex. In parts of the Mississippi River in Minnesota and the Yampa River in Colorado, 70 percent of the smallmouth bass had female signs.

“Go Fish”

-Matt