View Full Version : is that fish safe to eat?
acabtp
04-05-2014, 12:38 AM
if taken from a safe body of water, eating fish is good for you. freshwater fish are particularly better than saltwater fish since they bioaccumulate far fewer toxins than their larger ocean going cousins. unfortunately however, considering the industrial history that a large portion of our garden state has, not all waters are safe to take fish from.
so what to do? the NJ DEP has a good resource to answer this question of what's safe to eat from where... the Fish Smart Eat Smart NJ webpage at http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/fishadvisories/freshwater-advisories.htm
on there, you can see what the recommendations are for safe fish consumption throughout the state.
it's the start of a new season, so just figured I'd post this up for anyone who hasn't seen it before. now don't get me wrong, i'm not telling anyone to take home every fish they catch... but just know that it should be an option you consider if the fish is gut or gill hooked badly and isn't going to make it anyway. or if you feel like a tasty fish dinner from time to time.
briansnat
04-05-2014, 12:52 AM
So I should stay away from catfish caught in the Arthur Kill?
acabtp
04-05-2014, 12:57 AM
So I should stay away from catfish caught in the Arthur Kill?
depends.
do you want catfish powers so you can fight crime from the rivers as catfishman?
in seriousness though, the arthur kill falls under the newark bay complex recommendations on http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/fishadvisories/marine.htm so you could eat that catfish once per year, but don't give any to your wife or kids
bunka bologna
04-05-2014, 09:16 AM
if taken from a safe body of water, eating fish is good for you. freshwater fish are particularly better than saltwater fish since they bioaccumulate far fewer toxins than their larger ocean going cousins. unfortunately however, considering the industrial history that a large portion of our garden state has, not all waters are safe to take fish from.
so what to do? the NJ DEP has a good resource to answer this question of what's safe to eat from where... the Fish Smart Eat Smart NJ webpage at http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/fishadvisories/freshwater-advisories.htm
on there, you can see what the recommendations are for safe fish consumption throughout the state.
it's the start of a new season, so just figured I'd post this up for anyone who hasn't seen it before. now don't get me wrong, i'm not telling anyone to take home every fish they catch... but just know that it should be an option you consider if the fish is gut or gill hooked badly and isn't going to make it anyway. or if you feel like a tasty fish dinner from time to time.
thank you for the post, just what i was looking for
Eskimo
04-05-2014, 04:14 PM
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Interesting webpage. I would never kill a bass, so I'm not concerned about the worst mercury-contaminated fish.
On the New Jersey Hunter forum, where some of the people aren't too good about releasing bass, my advice to them is to think about the fish they consume as if they were buying it from a supermarket. If you saw bass in the supermarket and it came with a label stating:
DANGER
Contains PCB and Methyl Mercury
Only eat one serving per month to minimize bio-accumulation of mercury.
Women of child bearing age should avoid this product entirely. Mercury may harm the developing nervous system of unborn babies and children.
Seriously - would any reasonable person buy that fish?
These warnings are probably based on smaller sized fish. A trophy bass is quite old and thus has a lot more mercury it has accumulated in it's flesh.
Here's an easy to understand webpage for people interested in learning more:
https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/merc.html
.
GetANet
04-05-2014, 08:25 PM
Dude, You need to fish more!!!!!
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