Things that make ya go.........Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.Good luck,

SZ

PS, I'm still eating my springers each April..................

There aren't many non-anadromous fish that I'd eat out of any river in the Columbia system or Puget Sound, at least not the lower end of Puget Sound streams.

Same goes for resident fish that live in Elliott Bay...I mean, really? How much junk from the waterfront and the Duwamish waterways do you think is in a lingcod, rock crab, or flounder that lives in Elliott Bay? It has to be astronomical.

A sturgeon that is suctioning off the bottom in the Columbia estuary?

No thanks...same as Elliott Bay as far as I'm concerned.

Fish on...

Todd

I would be curious to see results of resident fish in the Reach. The water quality is highly monitored through that free flowing stretch. I imagine there's some farm effluent that would make it's way down. It's about the only area I would consider eating resident fish. Kind of ironic since it was a major source of pollutants a couple decades ago.

Really worrisome.

Especially since the majority of the fish consumed around the world is commercially caught. The idea that studies like this stay silent with the majority of the population is really scary. No one questions WHERE the fish they're purchasing comes from. The main question most consumers have is COST. If it looks good and has a reasonable price, then hell, it's dinner.

There's so much research out there but the typical consumer has no idea where to find information on what actually goes onto their dinner table.

Sad.

The state even has surprisingly strict guidelines for our salmon which nearly all of us ignore.

The prognosis on a macro level is basically horrible.

Well, that was tough to watch. Makes me not miss the catch-n-keep estuary sturgeon fishery quite so much. Even though mostly resident fish were the target, I'm kinda surprised they didn't sample some of the river's salmon/steelhead too since that's the fish that directly affects most of us who fish down there.

Doc,

I would send you a PM but Drifter never showed me how when he was at AHS. I need to advised you that I am not available this week.

Thanks.

there is no way I would eat a bottom fish out of Puget sound or a sturgeon out of the Columbia River. We had a biologist come to our poggie meeting. What they had to say about the creeks around seattle was terrifying. I heard a tribal member state that the Green river was a waist of time for raising fish. You need clean water not transmission fluid to raise fish in. Most of the water coming off our roads and highways goes into Puget sound. We had a biologist from save the kings come to our meeting . He said the salmon smolts going into Puget Sound are not surviving. They don't make it past Port Townsend. The message I got from these two biologists was that you can have overpopulation or you can have fish but you cant have both. There are a lot of things we don't hear about.

27,000 and yet the controlling agencies do not flat stop the dumping no matter where it comes from or the cost to the polluter!
Just shows why it is such a mess.

The "enviros" were shouted down. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

In case you haven't been here....

http://www.doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/Food/Fish/Advisories

I read it and realize I need to cut back on eating the fish I catch or start giving it to my brother in law.

Someone else is eating it. At the moment I am looking out a hotel window in Yeosu, South Korea at a beautiful bay. The street below is lined with small cafes, each with a tank of live fish in front or a pot for cooking crabs. Last nights dinner was a set menu for a small group which included about 30 different kinds of raw fish and shellfish, several kinds of cooked fish, and abundant kinds of kimchi. Not something you should do if toxins are a concern. The fish was fresh, a friend ate at a different spot where the octopus wouldn't let go of the serving dish and we had a few unknown items still trying to escape. I feel fine but a couple of friends are not doing as well.

The point is if you are worried about toxins don't eat fish (maybe don't eat at all but that is also fatal). In the video human health is the focus, the word sacrifice is used often, but it is the fish that suffer. The legacy pollution will never be cleaned up because we are adding something new every day and using the ocean as a plastic garbage dump insures that marine fish get their share. It is grim to think about, time to take a walk to see the local fish market.

I gather shellfish at one of the inlets in the south Sound. The Health Dept. says the beach is OK for recreational shellfish harvest, and there are commercial beds nearby. Still, the sand and mud smell like crap. Locals call the area "the colon of Puget Sound." There ain't no sushi on my dinner plate, just shellfish with the sh!t cooked out of it.

Heart disease is the #1 killer in the United States. Eating fish reduces your risk of heart disease.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/omega-3/art-20045614?pg=1

That said, it's stupid to eat fish with high toxin levels when there are fish swimming by, in the same rivers, with low toxin levels and more omega 3's for your heart.