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Risky Fishes

by Bill Dusty

Recently, the subject of eating fish caught out of the Connecticut River came up in an email exchange between folks discussing the Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway. During the three trips along the Bikeway as part of a three-part [here, here, and here], unofficial survey of its condition, we occasionally came across either folks fishing or signs that folks had recently been fishing. This of course begged the question: Is it safe to eat the fish that are caught in the Connecticut River?

After information was forwarded on pesticides, PCBs, and other contaminants existing in the river, the general concensus was that it was probably not. Still, we didn’t come across any folks on their knees yuking or splayed out, dead, on the river bank, either.

Actually, contaminants of various types are found in nearly all bodies of fresh water and rivers in the northeastern United States. But that hasn’t stopped tens of thousands of fisherfolk each year from dropping their bait into the watery depths in the hopes of catching a cheap meal. Come to think of it, well over half the population of Massachusetts gets its drinking water from surface sources.

MEMORY DIGRESSION:
I remember when I was a kid growing up in Somers, Connecticut. I ROUTINELY fished out of the Scantic River, pulling out trout and bass and even sucker fish – which most other kids detested but which I found to be quite tasty.

My friends and I would also enjoy building plastic model warships and taking them to the river. We’d set them on fire and then launch them into the water, watching with glee as they slowly drifted along the river, their little superstructures a-blaze.

Later in life, when I wasn’t quite so warlike, my best friend and I would spend many-a Sunday getting up early in the morning and heading out to the Quabbin Reservoir for a long, peaceful day of fishing. I don’t recall ever getting ill from eating fish back then, but the fact that we often consumed rather alarming amounts of alcohol while dining on our catches may have had a role to play in that.

I was never one to really get into those “long-term advisory” warnings about the hazards of eating fresh water fish, anyway. I’m still alive, after all, and the fish I ate in the 1970s and 80s was probably a lot worse off than what’s swimming around today.

Hm. Now that I’ve just said that, it doesn’t sound so good.

BACK TO THE STATS:
The primary contaminants in ponds, lakes and rivers today are mercury, PCBs, dioxins, and pesticide pollutants. In the Connecticut River, there is also the nuisance of sewage outflow after storm floods.

According to the “Connecticut River Fish Tissue Contaminant Study” conducted back in 2000 (with a Q&A updated in 2006), the most widespread contaminant threat is mercury. Currently, the Massachusetts Department of Health has a statewide fish advisory for all freshwater bodies because of mercury contamination concerns. Mercury in lakes, ponds, and rivers comes primarily from the atmosphere, having been deposited there as the result of industrial pollution. The good news is, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instituted stricter rules in 2005 that should noticeably reduce the amount of mercury pollutants sprinkled about in New England’s watersheds. The bad news is, those nifty new energy-efficient CF bulbs that you’ve screwed into every light socket in your home have all got small amounts of mercury embedded inside them, thus ensuring you’ve got tiny amounts of mercury sprinkled about your living room.

PCBs are actually a “legacy” type of pollutant. The United States banned PCBs in 1977, so the only contamination we should be getting from them is due to their use all those many years ago. Still, due to PCB contamination, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MADPH) continues to have a “P1 Advisory” against eating fish caught in the Connecticut River that applies to “children younger than 12 years of age, pregnant women, women of child bearing age who may become pregnant, and nursing mothers.” And there is an additional “P2 Advisory” for that river that applies to the general public regarding the consumption of channel fish, white catfish, American eel and yellow perch.

For up-to-date advisories on fish consumption in a body of freshwater near you, check out the MADPH webpage here.

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HERE’S THE POOP:
The Springfield segment of the Connecticut River has several sewage outflow points. Check out this information excerpted from a 1998 Connecticut River Water Quality Assessment Report:

The Springfield combined sewage collection system is permitted to discharge through 25 CSOs to the Connecticut, Chicopee and Mill rivers. This facility has seven CSOs [combined sewage outflows] that discharge approximately 9MGY [million gallons per year] into the Mill River and six CSOs that discharge approximately 23 MGY into the Chicopee River. Twelve CSOs discharge approximately 548 MGY of untreated combined sewage to this segment of the Connecticut River…

The outflow of this “untreated combined sewage” has resulted in elevated levels fecal coliform bacteria in this segment of the waterway, according to the report. (And man, you know it must be bad when even the scientific name sounds yucky.)

I’m still waiting for an opportunity to snap a photograph of somebody fishing while one of those CSOs is experiencing an “outflow” event. You have to know it happens.

Finally, the 1998 assessment report also mentions that sediment located just below the Holyoke Dam in the Connecticut River is contaminated with coal tar, which is known to cause reproductive problems in a variety of fish.

And the good news just keeps on coming.

Anyone for a nice, healthy t-bone steak?

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Posted by Bill Dusty on Aug 19th, 2008 and filed under Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.