A new angle on cleaning up Passaic River: Swap your catch for a cleaner fish

[hofnodinstructor]

http://www.northjersey.com/news/passaic-river_polution_EPA_newark_cleanup_superfund.html

In what critics call a desperate bid to avoid the most expensive toxic cleanup in New Jersey history, the companies responsible for polluting the Passaic River are promoting a plan they say will help keep people safe: swapping contaminated fish pulled from the river with healthy ones.
Cleanup work on the Passaic River in Lyndhurst on Friday. The companies responsible for polluting the river want to clean up hot spots like this one, instead of fully dredging, while offering clean fish to anglers.

Cleanup work on the Passaic River in Lyndhurst on Friday. The companies responsible for polluting the river want to clean up hot spots like this one, instead of fully dredging, while offering clean fish to anglers.

Some of the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxin in the Passaic River have been found in mudflats in Lyndhurst.

The plan would involve a less-extensive cleanup along with the establishment of an indoor fish farm so anglers along the Passaic — one of the most polluted rivers in the nation and a federal Superfund site — can exchange the fish they catch with fish that are safe to eat.

The fish exchange is the latest idea by 70 companies that have been waging a public relations campaign for more than a year against the Environmental Protection Agency, which is developing a cleanup plan that could cost them billions.

[iceehot6766]

I read this in yesterdays paper and had to laugh/smirk.......While it sounds like a great idea, we have to realize that the Passaic isn't exactly Lake Ontario or Erie(or other high volume fisheries) and does not have numbers of anglers fishing like these places.......These companies , that make millions every year and have polluted our waters, should be responsible for cleaning up their damages they have done.......the way this is being implicated and proposed, is another public relations move on these companies trying to divert the negative attention being drawn upon their companies and trying to make it like they are doing some good......I call bullsh*t all around.........And who is going to pay for an indoor fish farm?..and in all places Lyndhurst NJ......sounds like a xash plan for the town to generate income for the crooked involved........that cost will be very expensive to build and maintain.......It's not like we have a major fishery here where thousands of anglers flock to fish and will be taking part in...I mean even the newark Watershed only has approx I'm gonna say less than 250 registered people a year(maybe I am wrong but I see the same 20 people fishing throughout the year and I fish those places alot) that pay for permots to fish there and those lakes are quality places.....Realistically, how many people are going to get involved in this.....something ain't right here..........I think this whole thing sounds like a disaster before it even begins, despite the what seems like good intentions...........this simply isn't going to improve on a big level.......that's just my opinion........The way it is expected and assumed is that all of a sudden this is going to attract and draw people to the Passaic to fish......Not gonna happen and it will be a huge failure.......Let these companies pay for the damage they have done or figure something else out.......

bgccfishreacher, I see you are from Clifton....I am as well.....we should get togeher for coffee one day at the diner on Allwood...I'd like to discuss fishing in general w/ you see what that program you are involved in is about.....I'd possibly be interested in getting involved in your program and teach these kids to get involved in something positive like fishing , instead of other things like gangs, violence,
and drugs.........Clifton is such a nice town, but the one side(Lakeview area) is getting rough...I'm in Allwood........let me know

[hofnodinstructor]

Yumm just the thought of trading in a carp for an excrement eating tilapia warms my soul. These people must come from the same gene pool that writes our fishing regulations. I'll have to start teaching my kids to catch and trade instead of catch and release.

[Skunk City]

Biggest joke I have ever heard. These companies need to own up and pay up. Enough with the "band aids"!

[ScowardNJ]

I'd be in favor of a Carp for Tilapia program as long as all other species are C & R until the river is healthy enough to eat out of even though we will never see that in our life time.

[EJS]

Anything less than a full cleanup is unacceptable! I am absolutely shocked how ignorant/narrow minded the suggest approach is! No wonder why companies are crumbling and this economy is in shambles!

[Lard Almighty]

If I polluted your house to the point where you could no longer live in it, and I said, "I won't clean up your house, but you can trade in all the contaminated food in your fridge for fresh stuff," would you be satisfied?

I rarely resort to internet tropes, but LOOOOOOL!

[iceehot6766]

If I polluted your house to the point where you could no longer live in it, and I said, "I won't clean up your house, but you can trade in all the contaminated food in your fridge for fresh stuff," would you be satisfied?

I rarely resort to internet tropes, but LOOOOOOL!

Same here about commenting on stuff like this, but this one just got under my skin....Having grown up in this general area and now reside less than two miles from the area in question, I get a little aggravated at how not thought out these supposed quick solutions are and who comes up with this nonsense......These people have no clue what it really takes to clean up even a small area of a major river that has been in poor condition for the past few decades........Alot of money is involved and even more it's just a temporary fix if any at all...eventually it's going to come out of taxpayers wallets instead of those who caused the problems and have profited through the years of their damaging actions.......I even went back and reread this article and it was even more unnerving on a second read over.....