An environmental group is calling for investigation into pesticide spraying in New York and Connecticut after hundreds of blueclaw crabs were found dead in the marshes near a sprayed area.
FISH Unlimited wants an independent investigative committee to probe any mosquito spraying activity that occurred in 1999 and 2000 in the two states. Earlier, there had been reported deaths of lobsters in western Long Island Sound, crabs in Great South Bay and fish in Staten Island.
The investigative committee should be made up of user groups, elected officials and environmentalists, said Bill Smith, executive director of FISH Unlimited.
FISH Unlimited first raised the issue of a relationship between Long Island Sound dumping and mosquito spraying in the deaths of the lobsters in western Long Island Sound last September. The group secured funding for an independent study of lobsters by ETI Laboratories and the Lobster Institute that will be released shortly.
"We are asking that New York State and Connecticut fund this effort, which will analyze sediment samples from the effected areas, as well as to test more lobsters, crabs and fish to see if pesticides are present in them, Smith said.
(Source: Environment News Service)
