John Goodall, a river watcher with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, stood on a bridge over a picturesque stretch of King's Creek last week tugging at his bright red fisherman's overalls and frowning as he looked down at his catch. With a single toss of his net, Goodall had pulled up 14 perky-looking menhaden, a finger-length bait fish native to Maryland's Eastern Shore. But on closer inspection, all except one of the fish turned out to have ugly red-brown lesions across their silvery skin, where bacteria were literally eating them alive. "It's just horrific," said Goodall, wearing rubber gloves as he sorted...
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