All those smallmouth bass dying in the Susquehanna River?

Ed Perry thinks global warming is at least partially to blame.

"Climate change is the final straw that is decimating this fishery," he said Wednesday night in a talk at Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster.

The plight of the Susquehanna's once world-class fishery was but one of the examples the former federal aquatic biologist gave in making the case that the outset of climate change already is having major consequences on fish and wildlife.

The state Department of Environmental Protection recently refused to declare the lower Susquehanna impaired as requested by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and conservation groups.

The devastating die-offs of young bass as well as the appearance of intersex fish and ugly lesions can't be attributed to any specific type of pollution, DEP said.

But though various pollution stresses are undoubtedly at play in the river, Perry thinks increased water temperatures also are to blame.

That might explain why diseased bass are now showing up in Pine Creek, a northcentral stream with high water quality, said Perry, whose talk here was co-sponsored by the newly formed Lancaster Citizens Climate Lobby and the HIVE of Planet-Loving Activity.

Perry said he gave up his annual floating and camping trip down the Susquehanna after 2005 when he encountered hundreds of dead fingerling bass above Harrisburg floating downstream in water that he measured at 91 degrees.

Perry spent 30 years in Pennsylvania with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He came out of retirement and now travels the state as an advocate for the National Wildlife Federation's global warming campaign.

Climate change, he told a group of about 30 people, is the defining issue of his lifetime.

Even though man-made climate change, so far, has "only" raised the global temperature by 1.5 degrees in the last 100 years, it's already having profound impacts on wildlife, he said.

"There are no deniers in the natural world," he said.

Already, he said, robins are migrating farther north. Butterflies are setting off on their own long-distance migration 24 days earlier. Tree swallows are laying eggs nine days earlier.

So what? There could be disastrous consequences if food sources aren't ready when migrants arrive early.

In northern Minnesota over the last 25 years, numbers of moose have plummeted from 8,840 to 2,769. This coincides with less-severe winters and ticks surviving. Ticks in such numbers can drain the blood of moose.

In the West and Pacific Northwest, warmer temperatures have doubled the rate that the mountain pine beetle reaches adulthood, much to the detriment of forests of evergreen trees that are being killed.

If we don't soon make substantial reductions in the amount of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere, the world's scientists expect to see large numbers of species go extinct around the world in the next 80 to 90 years, Perry said.

"There's no shuttle service to get off this planet. We need to get off of fossil fuels. Coal is killing our country. It's killing the planet. We need to move fast."

Perry sees significant reliance on solar and wind power as a solution. It would involve sacrifice and be expensive, he acknowledges.

But the alternative is a certain uptick in droughts and storms and catastrophes around the globe as rising sea levels drive hundreds of millions from their homes in coastal areas.

There will be, he projected, mass migrations and wars.

He urged the gathering to pressure their legislators to take climate change seriously and support the transition to cleaner energy.

"Changing your lightbulbs is not enough," he said.

Perry remains hopeful it is not too late to turn the tide, saying, "I think technology is going to bail us out of some of this."
acrable@lnpnews.com