The sores and the similar experiences had to be more than coincidence. I'd been on the lookout for problems from pfiesteria ever since watermen began finding fish with grotesque lesions near Shelltown almost a year ago. I had done just that. But now I realized I was on untraveled ground, pitting my local knowledge, my interest in ecology and my medical expertise against the scientific community and political interests that over the past year had been stressing that humans were not at risk from the mysterious microbe. The river's upper reaches are cypress swamps with red bay trees and crossvine, plants generally found in North Carolina.
Local residents like to say the north and the south meet here.
With the Eastern Shore's low elevation, it can take as long as three weeks for the river's water to flow the 13 miles downstream from Snow Hill to Pocomoke City. Twice a day, the current is met with a strong upstream surge, mixing waters from the bay and the Pocomoke Sound with run-off from Worcester and Somerset counties. Though the area is sparsely populated, development along the river banks and the growth of Ocean City as a family resort has changed the contents of the upriver water. From Pocomoke City to the bay, chicken and tomato farms now extend to the banks. Local fishermen I knew, like the Maddox and Howard families who have worked the waters for generations, told me they'd never seen anything like it.