DPH: Housatonic Pike Among Fish

That Should Not Be Eaten

HARTFORD — The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) has released an updated If I Catch It, Can I Eat It? A Guide to Safe Eating of Fish Caught in Connecticut. The guide, now also offered in Spanish, is available at all tackle shops, local health departments, town clerk offices, and at the DPH website.

The DPH has updated the guide in response to new sampling data that has indicated elevated levels of contaminants in Northern pike in the Housatonic River. In addition, recent sampling data has indicated lower levels of contamination in bullheads, a species of catfish, along the Housatonic River.

“The purpose of this DPH guide is to give advice on how to safely eat fish caught in Connecticut,” stated DPH Commissioner J. Robert Galvin, MD, MPH. “Fish are a good source of protein and omega 3 fatty acids, a nutrient thought to be protective of heart disease, and DPH recommends that the public continue to eat fish. However, certain guidelines should be followed in order to eat fish safely.”

The standard advice for fish caught in Connecticut for pregnant women and children (high risk groups) is to eat no more than one meal per month of freshwater fish caught in Connecticut. For all other groups, the advice is to eat no more than one meal per week of freshwater fish. This standard advice is due to mercury contamination found in Connecticut freshwater fish. In addition, there is a guideline that recommends limiting or avoiding striped bass and bluefish caught in Long Island Sound due to polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination.

Recent data received by state health and environmental officials indicate that Northern pike on the Housatonic River can have PCB levels that are in a high-risk range and so should not be eaten by anyone. This advice is consistent with that for trout, eels, catfish, and carp on the river. Pike from the Housatonic River were sampled for the first time in 2004 because there has been an increase in the number of pike in the river that are now available to anglers.

Although the new fish findings indicate that PCB levels in pike are, on average, similar to other large fish on the Housatonic, there was one fish that had very high levels. State fisheries experts believe that this fish may have migrated from Massachusetts where contaminant concentrations are higher. This finding shows the importance of the “do not eat” advisory for pike and other large fish in the river.

The new sampling data also indicates a decreasing trend over time in PCB concentrations in bullhead along the Housatonic River and its lakes. That trend prompted DPH to loosen the consumption advisory for bullheads along the Housatonic River and its lakes to “one meal per month” for both high and low risk groups.

The new data were collected by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences in 2004 under contract from General Electric as part of its semiannual sampling of Housatonic River fish. General Electric and the state of Connecticut have an agreement for ongoing monitoring of fish in the river. DPH releases a yearly updated guide based on sampling data from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Philadelphia Academy.

For more information or to obtain a copy of the update, call 860-509-7742 or visit the DPH website at: www.dph.state.ct.us/BRS/EOHA/webfsh.htm.