People who like to wet a line at the Lafayette Reservoir were advised not to eat their catch – regularly – after four types of locally sourced fish were found to contain mercury or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), both of which can pose serious health risks for humans.
The advisory, issued by the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, was directed at people who consume rainbow trout, channel catfish, goldfish and black bass caught at the reservoir.
Suggested guidelines for consumption:
Women from 18 to 45 years old and children from one to 17 years old may eat five servings per week of rainbow trout or three servings per week of channel catfish or one serving of black bass species.
Both groups should avoid eating goldfish, according to
environmental health officials.
Women 46 years old and older and men 18 and older may eat seven servings per week of channel catfish or five servings per week of rainbow trout or two servings per week of goldfish or black bass species.
One serving is eight ounces before cooking the fish. Eight ounces of fish fillet is roughly the size and thickness of a person’s hand. Children should eat smaller amounts, health officials said.
Health experts said Mercury can be found naturally in the environment and has also been introduced through mining operations and the burning of coal. PCBs, a synthetic coolant once an everyday sight but banned in the U.S. since the 1970s, is a known carcinogen and has apparently found its way into the environment – most likely due to spills and improper disposal.
Goldfish???
@Andrew – Yessir. And not the Pepperidge Farm variety, either…
One too many pets released??
There are goldfish running with black bass and catfish in there? Carnival refugees?
What about the alligator?
@Sabrina – Alligator? Oh, he’s in Moraga… supposedly in the MCC water hazard, they’re missing a couple of golfers over there…
PCB are chlorinated oils that were resistant to breaking down in transformers, ballasts, etc. Those are all pretty much gone now. PCB were also used in building materials to make them more pliable and durable, including window caulk, expansion joint, and vinyl floor tiles. Many of the PCB that we see in our fish are a result of old building materials on structures that are breaking down and the PCB oils are making their ways into our waterways.
Well, you can always plant your contaminated fish with your GMO corn and see what happens. Pocahontas reports that it WILL grow. The science part of this is the “into what” part. We call it the “Lafayette Project”. The Russians are way ahead on this. After all, they have Chernobyl.
We enjoy entertaining… and our guests will be very disappointed when they find out I will no longer will be serving my favorite dish – goldfish and fries. This is devastating…
@Danielle – … with a side of Channel Catfish Chips and Black Bass Bisque. Yum.
Seriously …..this worries me because the Lafayette Reservoir is our drinking water supply from East Bay Mud. So obviously the fish are getting these chemicals from that water….. The water that we drink! I almost hesitate to express my concern though, because EBMUD will want to raise rates again to cover cleaning up the water!
Your gonna need the proper equipment for a bisque.
Bass-o-matic ’76
SNL 1976
@David – Classic! And oddly appropriate…
@Rob U: I was thinking the same! If these fish are getting toxins from the Reservoir, what about us using East Bay MUD water?!!! and Yes, I worry that they’ll want to raise our water rates again over it too.
Mercury is very heavy and would remain in the sediment unless disturbed. I don’t know about PCBs in water.
Kidding aside,
David makes a good point and believe it is the same fro PCB’s. They settle out and will not impact water supply as a lot of water supplies in Northeast have heavy metals that have settled out in sediments.
..
They have this issue on the upper Hudson River where GE/EPA removed a lot of PCB laced sediment from past manufacturing practices. The stories were interesting to read as the argument was split down the middle. Can’t remove fast enough vs. the crowd that argued it disturbed and introduced just as much PCB’s/hazard back into the water stream as the cleanup removed.