It's not a problem. As I understand it, it doesn't poison fish, it smothers
them. South American natives use it kill fish for their tables.

Dennis Rockwell
Kennewick, WA
dennrockwell at surfbest.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Guy McWethy" <lguy_mcw at yahoo.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:16 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Rotenone


>> A final note, Blue Lake has had all the fish killed
>> with Rotenone (sp?) so
>> there are many dead fish along the shore of the
>> lake. Does
>> anyone know of the breakdown
>> time for Rotenone and whether or not it is a health
>> issue for wildlife that
>> consume it second-hand?
>
> George and Tweeters,
>>From Wikipedia:
> "Rotenone is a colorless-to-red, odorless solid. In
> solution it is used as a broad-spectrum insecticide
> that works by inhibiting the transfer of electrons
> from Fe-S centers in Complex I to ubiquinone (see
> electron transfer chain). This prevents NADH from
> being converted into usable cellular energy (ATP).
>
> Rotenone is commonly used in powdered form to reduce
> parasitic mites on chickens and other fowl. It also
> stuns or kills fish and is used to eradicate exotic
> fish from their non-native habitats.
>
> Rotenone is toxic to humans and other mammals.
> However, the compound breaks down when exposed to
> sunlight and usually has a short lifetime (two weeks
> or less) in the environment. In water rotenone may
> last six months.
>
> Rotenone is produced by extraction from the roots and
> stems of several tropical and subtropical plant
> species belonging to the genus Lonchocarpus or Derris.
> People have been known to catch fish by extracting
> rotenone from plants and releasing it into water. The
> initial such usage was by various indigenous tribes
> who simply smashed the roots."
>
>
>>From another site:
> http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/rotenone.htm
> "Fate in the environment
> Rotenone is rapidly broken down in soil and water: its
> half-life in both is between one and three days(38).
> Nearly all its toxicity is lost in five to six days of
> spring sunlight, or two to three days of summer
> sunlight. It does not readily leach from soil and it
> is not expected to be a groundwater pollutant(39).
>
> Water
> Rotenone is highly toxic to fish: most values for the
> 96 hour LC50 (lethal concentration required to kill
> half the test organisms) for different fish species
> and for daphnids (water fleas) lie in the range of
> 0.02 to 0.2 mg/litre. If used as a piscicide, it may
> also cause a temporary decrease in numbers of other
> aquatic organisms(40).
> There is considerable controversy over the use of
> rotenone to kill non-game fish in water body
> management areas. One study found that the practice
> has a substantially harmful effect on biodiversity, in
> which several populations of the native fish showed
> negligible signs of recovering stocks, while
> populations of all exotic species are up."
>
> Guy
>
>
>
> Guy McWethy
> Renton, WA
> mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com
>
>
>
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