Fishing Contamination Risks: What You Need To Know

Know the risks before eating your catch—it is possibly contaminated with chemicals.

A peer-reviewed study released last March by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental advocacy organization, has been making waves rough enough to rattle a T-top. Titled “Locally caught freshwater fish across the United States are likely a significant source of exposure to PFOS and other perfluorinated compounds,” its authors draw the conclusion that a single serving of freshwater fish per year could be equal to a month of drinking water laced with the “forever chemical” PFOS at high levels that can be harmful to humans. It’s important to understand fishing contamination risks and how they impact your health.

It’s scary stuff when you really dig into the data, but let’s backtrack for a minute first. It should come as little surprise that wild-caught “sweet water” species across the U.S. could harbor a variety of potentially harmful chemicals in their systems. Warnings about eating fish that may be contaminated with toxins that find their way into our watersheds through various avenues, including road runoff and airborne entry, stretch back decades and cover harmful chemicals like mercury, chlordane, and PCBs. These advisories, generally posted on Department of Health and state fish and wildlife agency websites, are designed to help anglers make educated choices about eating the fish they catch. Usually, they are specific to select fish species in certain waters that have been found to contain contaminants at levels of concern. Rather than a prohibition on eating fish, these are warnings—sometimes strongly stated—that fall short of forbidding anglers from consuming their catch.

Tips to Mitigate Fishing Contamination Risks for Safe Eating

There are ways to mitigate consumption risks by making carefully considered choices. Many toxins, mercury for example, work their way up the food chain. In such cases, younger, smaller fish may be less contaminated than larger or older predator species that eat them and accumulate the chemicals consumed. Thus, adult largemouth bass and pike, which many anglers release for conservation reasons anyway, may be more contaminated than a small yellow perch, bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish, or juvenile crappie.