COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

“The information provided in fish consumption advisories helps people plan what fish to keep and how often and how much of their catch to eat,” PFBC Executive Director Dr. Douglas Austen. “By providing detailed advisories, we enable anglers and others who eat recreationally caught sport fish to make informed decisions.

” All recreationally caught sport fish in Pennsylvania are subject to a one-meal-per-week consumption advisory. This blanket advisory is designed to protect the general population, especially pregnant women, women of childbearing years and young children. One meal is considered to be one-half pound of fish for a 150-pound person.

The advisories do not apply to fish raised for commercial purposes or bought in stores or restaurants.

“Consumption advisories are not intended to discourage anyone from fishing or eating fresh fish in moderation,” DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said. “Our goal is to make sure anglers have the best available information as they fish Pennsylvania’s waterways.”

For 2006, a do-not-eat advisory for white bass due to chlordane has been lifted for the Cheat Lake River from the Cheat Lake Dam to its mouth, and for the Monongahela River from Point Marion to Grays Landing Lock and Dam in Fayette and Greene counties.

In addition, a one-meal-per-month mercury advisory has been modified to a two-meals-per-month advisory for walleye in the Allegheny River from the Warren/Forest county line to the confluence of Tubbs Run in Forest County.

State officials issued a do-not-eat advisory for brook trout and a six-meals-per-year advisory for rainbow and brown trout due to polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, contamination in the Schuylkill River from the confluence of Mill Creek at Port Carbon to Auburn Dam in Schuylkill County.

Officials also issued a one-meal-per-month PCB advisory for smallmouth bass on the Beaver River from the confluence of the Mahoning and Shenango rivers to the New Brighton Dam in Beaver and Lawrence Counties, and a two-meals-per-month mercury advisory for walleye on the Eaton Reservoir in Erie County.

PCBs are a group of chemicals used prior to the 1970s in a variety of industrial and electrical products such as capacitors, transformers, turbines, hydraulic fluids and lubricants. Even though their manufacture was discontinued more than 20 years ago, trace levels of PCBs remain in the environment. In fish, PCBs accumulate in fatty tissues.

Mercury is emitted into the air primarily by industrial sources, such as coal-fired power plants. When mercury is washed from the air by rain into streams and lakes, it is transformed to a highly toxic form that builds up in fish and bioaccumulates as it moves through the food chain. Individuals are then exposed to mercury through fish consumption.

Health Secretary Dr. Calvin B. Johnson noted that at-risk groups and people who regularly eat sport fish are most susceptible to contaminants that can build up in fish over time and should space out fish meals.

“When properly prepared, fish provide a diet high in protein and low in saturated fats,” Dr. Johnson said. “People can get the health benefits of eating fish and reduce exposure to organic contaminants by properly cleaning, skinning, trimming and cooking the fish they eat.”

Proper preparation generally includes trimming away fat and broiling or grilling the fish to allow remaining fat to drip away. Juices and fats that cook out of the fish should not be eaten or reused for cooking or preparing other foods. Mercury, however, collects in the fish’s muscle and cannot be reduced by cleaning and cooking methods.

In addition to the general statewide advisory, Pennsylvania has four other categories of consumption advisories that can be issued if test results suggest it: two meals per month; one meal per month; one meal every two months; or do not eat.

Current and updated advisories for 2005 are published in the Summary of Fishing Regulations and Laws provided to each purchaser of Pennsylvania fishing licenses.