I am a dead man

[Mr. Sandman]

Atlantic coast stripers declared unhealthy to eat
6/03/2009 10:40:00 AM



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.