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Fish Safe Eating Guidelines Overview of San Francisco Bay Sport Fish Contamination and Response ActivitiesFISH
Overview of San Francisco Bay Sport Fish Contamination and Response Activities
San Francisco Bay Interim Advisory and Background
In 1994, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (SFRWQCB), in cooperation with other state agencies, conducted a pilot study to measure the levels of chemical contaminants in fish in San Francisco Bay. The board found that chemicals in bay fish exceeded levels of potential concern and showed a need for further study. The chemicals or chemical groups of potential concern were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane), dieldrin, chlordane, and dioxins/furans.
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), which is the state agency that issues sport fish consumption advisories, did a preliminary evaluation of the study data and confirmed the potential health hazard. OEHHA then issued an interim sport fish advisory. The advisory gives guidelines for safe consumption levels of sport fish. Following these guidelines would protect against adverse health effects from these chemicals.
The interim sport fish advisory for San Francisco Bay fish is as follows:
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Adults should limit their consumption of San Francisco Bay sport fish to, at most, two meals per month.
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Adults should not eat any striped bass over 35 inches.
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Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, or who are breast-feeding, and children under six, should not eat more than one meal per month and, in addition, should not eat any meals of large shark (over 24 inches) or large striped bass (over 27 inches).
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This advisory does not apply to salmon, anchovies, herring, and smelt caught in the bay; other ocean caught sport fish; or commercial fish.
Since this advisory was issued, more has been done to study the chemicals in fish and their sources, to take measures to control the contamination, and to revise the advisory. This overview describes these new studies and activities and is intended to give a broader understanding of the problem of chemical contamination of sport fish in the bay.
Download a copy of the document Overview of San Francisco Bay Sport Fish Contamination Activities
