ledhead36
06-03-2009, 12:58 PM
Atlantic coast stripers declared unhealthy to eat
6/03/2009 10:40:00 AM (http://php.delawareonline.com/blog/allgreentome/2009/06/atlantic-coast-stripers-declared.html)
http://php.delawareonline.com/blog/allgreentome/uploaded_images/striperz-774914.jpg (http://php.delawareonline.com/blog/allgreentome/uploaded_images/striperz-774917.jpg)
By JEFF MONTGOMERY
The News Journal
Delaware and six other states today branded Atlantic coast striped bass -- a widely popular sportfish -- as an unhealthy food for pregnant women, those who might become pregnant and children under age 6.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control declaration continued a similar health advisory for bluefish. Both designations were prompted by detections of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury in fish tissues.
Mercury, long a contaminant of concern in fish, can affect brain and nervous system development in fetuses, infants and children. PCBs can affect the endocrine system and brain development, and have been found to be carcinogenic in animal studies.
The advisory, echoed by states from New England and the Mid-Atlantic, marked the only change from the extensive fish consumption warnings that DNREC issued last year.
State officials already had recommended that high risk groups avoid striped bass from the Delaware River and Delaware Bay. Environmental and Division of Public Health officials also advised even residents outside high risk groups to eat striped bass from the bay, river or Atlantic ocean only twice a year.
The same agencies continued longstanding advice against anyone eating any fish caught in the Delaware River from the mouth of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal north. Women and children also should generally avoid eating bluefish larger than 14 inches if taken from Delaware Bay or the Atlantic, with other groups limiting bluefish meals to once per year.
"There is a connection between what we do on the land and the health of the fish," DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara said in a written statement. "Our goals are to clean up remaining sources of PCBs and other contaminants, accelerate improvement in the fish, and ultimately lift or relax some of these advisories. For now, however, the advisories are necessary to protect public health," O'Mara said.
Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland issued similar advisories today.
DNREC and the Delaware River Basin Commission have worked closely to monitor sources of PCBs, once widely used as coolants in electric transformers and other industrial equipment. Several sites in Delaware, including Amtrak's heavy locomotive shops in Wilmington and industrial sites along the river, have been singled out as major sources of the pollutants.
6/03/2009 10:40:00 AM (http://php.delawareonline.com/blog/allgreentome/2009/06/atlantic-coast-stripers-declared.html)
http://php.delawareonline.com/blog/allgreentome/uploaded_images/striperz-774914.jpg (http://php.delawareonline.com/blog/allgreentome/uploaded_images/striperz-774917.jpg)
By JEFF MONTGOMERY
The News Journal
Delaware and six other states today branded Atlantic coast striped bass -- a widely popular sportfish -- as an unhealthy food for pregnant women, those who might become pregnant and children under age 6.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control declaration continued a similar health advisory for bluefish. Both designations were prompted by detections of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury in fish tissues.
Mercury, long a contaminant of concern in fish, can affect brain and nervous system development in fetuses, infants and children. PCBs can affect the endocrine system and brain development, and have been found to be carcinogenic in animal studies.
The advisory, echoed by states from New England and the Mid-Atlantic, marked the only change from the extensive fish consumption warnings that DNREC issued last year.
State officials already had recommended that high risk groups avoid striped bass from the Delaware River and Delaware Bay. Environmental and Division of Public Health officials also advised even residents outside high risk groups to eat striped bass from the bay, river or Atlantic ocean only twice a year.
The same agencies continued longstanding advice against anyone eating any fish caught in the Delaware River from the mouth of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal north. Women and children also should generally avoid eating bluefish larger than 14 inches if taken from Delaware Bay or the Atlantic, with other groups limiting bluefish meals to once per year.
"There is a connection between what we do on the land and the health of the fish," DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara said in a written statement. "Our goals are to clean up remaining sources of PCBs and other contaminants, accelerate improvement in the fish, and ultimately lift or relax some of these advisories. For now, however, the advisories are necessary to protect public health," O'Mara said.
Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland issued similar advisories today.
DNREC and the Delaware River Basin Commission have worked closely to monitor sources of PCBs, once widely used as coolants in electric transformers and other industrial equipment. Several sites in Delaware, including Amtrak's heavy locomotive shops in Wilmington and industrial sites along the river, have been singled out as major sources of the pollutants.