2009 fish-consumption advisories released
By DAVE PAYNE Sr., dpayne@newsandsentinel.comPARKERSBURG - West Virginia officials are again telling people it's OK to eat fish most fish caught in the state's waters, but officials caution to limit consumption.
The state Division of Health and Human Resources recently released its 2009 fish-consumption advisories, which are updated each year based on data obtained from testing the tissue of fish in state waters for contaminants, primarily polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury.
Pat Campbell, assistant director of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Water and Waste Management Division, said the advisories aren't intended to scare people from eating fish, but instead to watch how much of it they eat.
"People need to eat fish, the message shouldn't be 'don't eat fish,' but instead to be mindful of contaminants and limit consumption. It's still healthier than the Big Macs," Campbell said.
Scott Morrison, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources fish biologist, said very few people eat enough fish to near advisory levels.
"People get concerned and worried everytime an advisory is issued, but who eats wild fish 52 times a year? " Morrison said.
The human body is capable of getting rid of contaminants over time and spacing out meals helps prevent build-up of harmful substances, the advisory report says. Occasionally eating fish in quantities slightly greater than recommendations, such as on an annual fishing vacation, should not present a health hazard, it says.
The advisories are based primarily on PCB and mercury levels.
"The PCBs are a legacy pollutant," Campbell said. "It was used as a cooling fluid in industrial applications. It's very stable and very resistant to decay and it persists in the system. It's gotten into storm sewers and industrial facilities and it keeps leaching out. It also bioaccumulates - it accumulates in a fish and when it dies, crawdads eat the dead fish, other fish eat those crawdads and it just keeps recycling," Campbell said.
A more recent issue has been mercury. In the last few years, mercury contamination has added pristine waters to the advisory list that had once been reserved for larger rivers that flowed through populated areas, such as the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, Campbell said.
"In West Virginia, there is a higher concentration of mercury north of Interstate 64. There are a number of sources along the Ohio River and it's carried into the same areas that have problems with acid rain. So you wind up having mercury in areas that appear free of human impact," Campbell said.
The mercury levels, however, should improve, he said.
"It's not all gloom and doom. The clean-air rule changes are causing many plants to install scrubbers for sulphur and we expect mercury levels to come down quite a bit, because the process to remove sulphur also removes a lot of the mercury. The requirements to reduce sulphur emissions has a side benefit, it will also cause a 30 to 50 percent reduction in mercury emissions," Campbell said.
A listing of advisories for the Mid-Ohio Valley follow:
Statewide advisories:
- One meal a month: white bass and hybrid striped bass.
- Two meals a month: black bass (largemouth, smallmouth and spotted), channel catfish more than 17 inches long, flathead catfish, rock bass, walleye, saugeye, suckers and sauger.
- One meal a week: all other species.
- No limit: rainbow trout.
Advisories for the Ohio River:
- Do not eat: carp and channel catfish greater than 17 inches.
- Six meals a year: channel catfish less than 17 inches.
- One meal a month: smallmouth buffalo and freshwater drum.
Other specific local advisories include:
- Middle Island Creek: spotted bass less than 12 inches, one meal a month.
- Flat Fork Creek: do not eat carp, channel catfish and suckers.
- Little Kanawha River and Hughes River: sauger, one meal a month.
