Two and a half years ago, Jeff Kelbe became the first Shenandoah Riverkeeper. It turned out to be an appropriate time for the river to receive the attention.

In the spring of 2004, fish kills (mainly smallmouth bass and sunfish) started appearing on the North Fork of the Shenandoah. They arrived on the South Fork in 2005. Every spring since, including this one, they've reappeared, and have spread to the James, Maury, Cowpasture and others west of the Blue Ridge. Some of the fish have lesions; many have organ damage. No smoking gun has been found to definitively explain why this is happening.

Now Kelbe, a fishing guide on the Shenandoah for eight years, spends most of his time dealing with river health and fish-kill issues. Among his myriad responsibilities, he serves on the state's Shenandoah River Fish Kill Task Force. He took some time to answer questions about the fish kills, his job and the state and future of the Shenandoah, one of the state's great smallmouth fisheries.

Q: How have the kills been this spring?

A: There's been some evidence of a low-grade issue on the Shenandoah in the last couple of weeks. We're finding low numbers of dead juvenile smallmouth and some redbreast and some suckers, a light scattering, but not yet as much as in past years.

After that first big rain event out there, there was a little flare-up. And the game department guys have been finding some funky fish out on the Cowpasture, too. Those fish had a fungus.

Q: The task force has done a lot of work since it was formed in 2005. What's the latest on a possible cause of the kills?

A: We're really looking at two things: One, we're looking at a biological component to this: virus or bacteria. We haven't completely ruled out viruses, but we've ruled out the known viruses. There's an interesting bacterial component that we're also looking into because we're finding bacteria that are uncommon in the perch family.

The other thing we're looking at is runoff. It seems very natural to believe that runoff is influencing this because we get our kills in the spring and that's the heavy [agriculture] season. . . . It looks to me like it's coming off of our land.

Q: Have you identified what, specifically, is in the runoff that's causing this?

A: We've tested for contaminants. We've looked for organic compounds and found 59, including pesticides and herbicides, some of which have been outlawed. We found DDT in the river. These are things that were outlawed but are a legacy out there or are still in use. We're worried about metals - copper, arsenic. . . . The poultry industry has historically used arsenic as a feed additive. It's FDA-approved, but that doesn't mean it's environmentally safe. It's an elective use, and I think it's not defendable to add a carcinogen to our environment like that.

Q: So, it could be this combination of factors that work together to kill the fish?

A: Exactly. I believe there are some things in the system, some biological agents that are taking advantage of this. It's widely theorized by many of the people on the task force that there is something suppressing the immune system of the fish. These [biological agents] are present in the river system and, generally, the fish don't have a problem with them.

Q: Is their any risk to humans from being in the river or eating fish from it?

A: That's probably the most difficult question. Our health department has only gone so far as to recommend that people don't eat fish with lesions. They're not really involved in the investigation, and I think they're happier not making this a public health issue. Quite frankly, we don't know.

Q: How have the kills affected the area, economically?

A: The guide business is dead in the Valley. People still fish [the river], but they tell me that the gas stations and the sporting goods stores that had little fishing sections have had to move to other business areas.

Q: Despite all the negative press the river has received, fish reproduction and growth rates have been high. The fishing should be good, right?

A: Our fish are reproducing like crazy and growing faster than they usually do. It has nothing to do with the health of the river and the water; it has to do with good environmental conditions for reproduction. These are resilient fish species. Fishing is making a rapid comeback . . . but people have kind of stopped coming here. When you stop using something, you pretty much stop caring about it. Fishermen have other options, and they've gone there. I'm working to get people back because we've had four years of off-the-charts reproduction and there are a lot of fish in the river. I'd like to see my anglers come back."