Fish Out Of Water

Alaska Asked To Revise Its Limits On Toxic Pollutants In The State’s Waters To Ensure Those Who Eat Fish Are Safe, But Fishing Across The Country Can Be Risky.

Photo by John Salzarulo on Unsplash

Imagine a world where the water is so polluted that even the fish contain unhealthy levels of toxins.

It’s not that far-fetched in Alaska, where just last week the U.S. EPA announced that the state needs to update its water quality standards because Alaskans eat a lot of fish.

The EPA is giving the state Department of Environmental Conservation 6 to 12 months to create new or revised standards for more than 100 pollutants in state waters. That’s based on data showing that Alaskans eat 30 to 60 times more fish than the state’s water quality rules currently assume.

“EPA continues to engage closely with the state of Alaska to ensure its communities, many of which rely on fish and shellfish for subsistence, are safer from pollution,” said EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Bruno Pigott in a statement. “Alaskans eat more salmon and other fish and shellfish than the average American. That’s why it’s important to update the science and analyses that underpin federal and state standards that protect water quality and ensure that it’s safe to eat fish.”

The state’s current water quality rules are from 2003, and assume that Alaskans eat about 7 ounces of fish per month, based on a national average calculated in 1992.

But the EPA cited studies from many sources, including the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak, the Seldovia Village Tribe and the state of Alaska itself, that say Alaskans, especially Alaska Native and rural subsistence consumers, eat more like 7 to 14 ounces per day.

If the state does not submit revised water quality standards, EPA plans to propose new and revised standards for Alaska that will take this updated data into account and protect those who eat salmon and other fish and shellfish from the state’s waters.

Source: KTOO Alaska Public Media

Before You Go Fishing This Summer…

This news comes after a 2023 study by Environmental Working Group scientists found that consuming a single serving of freshwater fish throughout the U.S. could be equal to a month of drinking water laced with the “forever chemical” PFOS at high levels that may be harmful.

Researchers calculated that eating one fish in a year equated to ingesting water with PFOS at 48 parts per trillion (ppt) for one month.

Researchers determined that eating one fish in a year equated to ingesting water with PFOS at 48 parts per trillion, or ppt, for one month. In April, the EPA set a new drinking water standard for PFOS at 4 ppt.

The study bolsters the need for additional testing of food such as fish, since diet is now considered a major source of PFAS exposure for Americans. The findings are a particular issue for communities whose survival often depends on eating freshwater fish they’ve caught. 

EWG found the median amounts of PFAS in freshwater fish were almost 280 times greater than forever chemicals detected in some commercially caught and sold fish.

“People who consume freshwater fish, especially those who catch and eat fish regularly, are at risk of alarming levels of PFAS in their bodies,” said EWG senior scientist and one of the study’s lead authors David Andrews, Ph.D., in a statement. “Growing up, I went fishing every week and ate those fish. But now when I see fish, all I think about is PFAS contamination.”

Consumption of PFOS-contaminated freshwater fish can cause significant increases in peoples’ blood serum levels of the forever chemical, creating potential health risks. Even infrequent consumption of freshwater fish can raise PFOS levels in the body.

“The extent that PFAS has contaminated fish is staggering,” said Nadia Barbo, a graduate student at Duke University and lead researcher on this project. “There should be a single health protective fish consumption advisory for freshwater fish across the country.”

The widespread contamination of fish in rivers and streams across the country further emphasizes the need to end industrial discharges of PFAS. 

EWG estimates there may be more than 40,000 industrial polluters of PFAS in the U.S. Tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities, municipal landfills and wastewater treatment plants, airports, and sites where PFAS-containing firefighting foams have been used are potential sources of PFAS discharges into surface water.

National EPA tests show nearly all fish in U.S. rivers and streams are contaminated with PFAS in the parts-per-billion range—even greater than parts per trillion. Although the most recent test results found decreasing PFAS levels, freshwater fish are still contaminated at high levels.

Some places have issued advisories about PFAS contamination in fish, like Wisconsin in 2021, when the state warned people not to eat smelt from Lake Superior more than once per month.

Fish consumption advisories (FCAs) are warnings that there is such a dangerous amount of contamination in fish that humans should limit or avoid eating those fish until the contamination is remediated. But states don't always detect or warn people about PFAS contamination in their fish.

FCAs were first issued in the Great Lakes region in the 1970s for the toxic chemical mercury. Since then, these advisories have expanded to include contaminants such as DDT, PCBs and PFAS.

Think twice before taking your fishing pole to a local river, as it could be riskier than you think.

FCAs are not a permanent solution. We need to consider all the ways pollution has impacted our waterways and create enforceable policies that reduces contamination.

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