Thread: Fish consumption advisory, are there sound study to back them up?

Originally Posted by todobien

Pete - see where they busted a comment fisherman harvesting oysters in a closed area in Brunswick county.

Yeppp!

rather scary....

Originally Posted by todobien

Yep it depends on what water body and why there is an advisory. Crabtree Creek has an advisory for PCB where lots of coastal streams have warnings due to mercury. If I'm not mistaken a large source of coastal mercury is due to mercury leaching out of peaty wetland soils as they break down after drainage ditches are installed.

Many of the chemicals/elements for these advisories are things that bioaccumulate so if you eat these fish don't eat them frequently and don't serve to young children or pregnant mothers.

Yep... You're right about the peat. Bay Tree Lake near Elizabethtown has mercury poisoning from the peat. You're not even supposed to go in the water at that lake. Usually swimmimg advisories are due to bacteria, but at that lake there's actually a swimming advisory because of mercury.

Wouldn't it make more sense, healthwise, to have a legal size below the size of larger fish that have higher toxicity levels. The government is more concerned about the fish population than the human population. (figures)

Size limits are typically set to allow fish to reproduce at least once before being susceptible to harvest to sustain the population...there are some exceptions with put and take fish such as mountain trout and striped bass hybrids

Even with the signs and warnings there are plenty of people harvesting fish from crabtree. Time will tell if it affects them or not.

The health benefits from fresh properly handled fish is huge.

I would steer clear of the most polluted waters.But other than that use wisely. Just because you bought it in a supermarket,restaurant, does not mean its safe.Trust me on that.

Mercury is a naturally occurring substance and can show up anywhere.The problem with the heavy metals is they are in the flesh....where a lot of other contaminants are in the fat and bone and are greatly reduced through proper handling.

I am pushing 60 now.....when I was younger I liked to catfish and snag paddlefish. I was young,not well informed (pre internet days) and strapped to feed my family all the time. We ate thousands of catfish,paddlefish ,(and some other fish)from the Mississippi,Ohio,Tennessee and Cumberland rivers .Have Kids and grandkids now . We are all more than reasonably healthy and have no health issues I could contribute to eating these fish. I always,filleted, trimmed and washed all my fish thoroughly.

It may not have been the best thing to do.But I am reasonably sure it was better than them eating a diet of junk food and prepared foods with a lot of additives in them.