San Francisco Bay fish are contaminated with levels of ‘forever chemicals’ that could harm anglers

By Rachel Becker CalMatters Linked to an array of soundness conditions such as cancers heart ailment and pregnancy disorders per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances resist developing down in the setting Used by industries to make waterproof coatings firefighting foams food packaging and more these chemicals have contaminated people and animals everywhere around the globe including newborns Researchers from the San Francisco Estuary Institute detected the chemicals in striped bass largemouth bass leopard shark white croaker white sturgeon and other fish collected between and throughout San Francisco Bay RELATED The dangerous allure of Bodega Bay s crab season Recreational and subsistence anglers catch striped bass and the other fish from boats shores or piers but they are not sold commercially Plenty of Asian immigrants other people of color and low-income people fish in the bay to feed their families Related Articles Trump budget would cut ocean information and leave boaters anglers and forecasters scrambling for info Why a contentious project to raise California s Shasta Dam could move forward under Trump Fishermen battling with changing oceans chart new discipline after Trump s push to deregulate An ugly dead fish missing one eyeball is drawing crowds at California aquarium -year legacy Vietnamese boat people thrive as Monterey fishermen California has set strength advisories for other contaminants in fish but not for these forever chemicals Based on Massachusetts advisory the majority of stringent in the country of the fish tested are considered unsafe to eat daily and a third of the fish would not be safe to eat even in amounts of half a pound a week the researchers revealed The chemicals seep into soil and wash into waterways that flow into the bay from landfills airports industrial sites military bases and sewage healing plants All along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay especially along the Carquinez we see how various polluting industries are there Yet people still fish there and because of finances multiple people eat that fish mentioned LaDonna Williams a project director with the Bay Area-based environmental justice nonprofit All Positives Doable Do you just close your eyes and pray over your food That s a heck of a decision to have to make The findings published in the scientific journal ES T Water build upon earlier reports that forever chemicals are among the cocktail of contaminants in San Francisco Bay The chemicals are likely contaminating ocean fish throughout California but no statewide studies have been conducted We know already that these chemicals are impacting all of us Miguel M ndez an environmental scientist who was a co-author of the evaluation declared in a press release But we also know that there s a lot of communities in the Bay that fish and a lot of these communities tend to be underrepresented and more marginalized in the Bay State functionaries have already posted signs at San Francisco Bay piers to warn people to limit or avoid consumption of certain fish because of other contaminants including mercury a potent neurotoxin that is a legacy of the Gold Rush Rebecca Sutton managing senior scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute and an author of the assessment explained those warnings are likely protective for forever chemicals as well A warning sign about fish consumption is posted at Pier in San Francisco on June Striped bass are a common species reeled in by anglers at the end of the pier Photo by Loren Elliott for CalMatters But fishing and environmental groups say California requirements to set guidelines for what levels of the chemicals are unsafe which will determine advice for how much people may eat Wesley Smith senior toxicologist with California s Office of Environmental Physical condition Hazard Assessment narrated CalMatters that the agency is progressing guidance for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid known as PFOS although there is no timeline yet About of the San Francisco Bay fish samples tested with the the bulk advanced methods contained PFOS used in several upholstery carpets cookware and firefighting foams beginning in the s It was phased out in the United States in the early s because of foreseen vitality effects RELATED Fishermen battling with changing oceans chart new module after Trump s push to deregulate Smith explained the other states that took early action may have been concerned about high levels exposed in selected areas We re in a better position to move forward in California he stated because of the work by other states and the new analysis circulated this day Smith advised people to follow the warning signs and eat smaller and younger fish to reduce their exposure Levels of the chemicals in San Francisco Bay fish were similar to those identified in marine fish in specific other harbors nationwide but generally lower than freshwater fish caught in rivers streams and lakes The researchers tested the fish for of the chemicals a tiny fraction of this vast class and unveiled in fish collected in and Chris Shutes executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance explained in addition to setting advisories for these contaminants state personnel should prevent them from getting into the water in the first place A bill in the Legislature authored by state Sen Ben Allen a Democrat from El Segundo would phase out the sale of certain products that have specific forever chemicals intentionally added such as ski wax dental floss products for children cookware and food packaging California has previously banned it in certain fabrics cosmetics and food packaging These results also show how critical it is to phase out non-essential uses and also improve monitoring and limit how much gets into waterways Tasha Stoiber a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group who has investigated the chemicals in freshwater fish declared in an email Fish caught in the southern reaches of the bay from Redwood City to Milpitas and San Jose were especially contaminated with more than exceeding Massachusetts threshold for one meal per week compared to in other parts of the bay Tides don t thoroughly flush out the runoff and treated sewage that carry the chemicals into the southern portion of the bay home to one of the largest wastewater healing facilities in the West As old forever chemicals are phased out new ones are still leaching into the surroundings The research crew revealed one chemical that has never before been documented in marine fish No one knows how several people eat fish caught in the bay Though nearly a quarter million anglers from Bay Area counties purchased licenses to fish in California in no one had tallied all people who fish from shorelines piers jetties or breakwaters and there are no official counts of people whose families would go hungry if they didn t One -year-old survey from the San Francisco Estuary Institute published that Asian men make up a higher proportion of Bay Area anglers compared to the region s demographics Another analysis farther upstream communicated Southeast Asians ate the most of fish caught in the Delta followed by African American and Hispanic anglers who were exposed to much higher levels of mercury than recommended