Jeff Montgomery reports in The News Journal that the latest advisory for those who go fishing in the Delaware River allows one serving a year of fish caught in the river south of the canal:
The advisory discouraged consumption of any fish caught between the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and the Pennsylvania border.
South of the canal, the states [New Jersey and Delaware] recommended against eating any large bluefish, a species prized for food and sport fishing. The same advisory called for a limit of one meal per year of bluefish smaller than 6 pounds or 24 inches, and no more than one meal per year for striped bass, white perch, American eel, channel catfish or white catfish.
Maybe I'm just overly cautious, but if there are enough toxins in these fish to make eating two in the same year a health risk, then I'm not sure I'd want to eat even the one-a-year authorities assure me is "safe."
Consider also that this article appeared on the same page of the paper as this one, announcing the public hearings at which officials from the military and from DuPont will reassure the public that the chemical company's plan to dump wastewater from neutralized VX gas into the river is, again, perfectly safe.
I was talking about the fish consumption limits with a friend of mine who pointed out that the advisory is primarily concerned about PCBs in the river. Since the health dangers posed by PCBs can take years to develop, he proposed a program allowing local fishermen to donate their catch to area hospices. "Blue fish is pretty good," he said, "and if you're already dying …"
I can't decide if this is callous or brilliant or both.
(Columnist Al Mascitti has more on the Delaware River.)
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