“The New York State Department of Health has determined that, thanks to a reduction in water pollution—namely, declining levels of toxic polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs)—certain fish species in the lower Hudson River are now safe to eat in moderation,” reports The Doomslayer.
The health department explained:
The New York State Department of Health today issued updated advice for eating fish caught in waterbodies statewide….Declining levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in some lower Hudson River fish mean for the first time in 50 years, anglers and their families can eat some of the fish they catch.
The Sensitive Population (people who can become pregnant and children under 15) can now enjoy up to one 8-ounce meal a month of striped bass among some others from this portion of the river. The general population can now eat up to four meals a month.
The Department recommends that everyone not eat Carp and Smallmouth bass from the Lower Hudson due to PCBs. See changes for several other species here.…
Because PCBs stay in the fat of fish, the Department encourages everyone to cut the skin and fat off of fish and cook it so that the fat drips off. This reduces the amount of PCBs in a fish meal by roughly half. People who eat Hudson River crabs can reduce the PCBs by removing the tomalley (mustard, hepatopancreas) and discarding the cooking liquid, which contains most of the PCBs.
Fish have returned to the once horrifically polluted Chicago River.
For over a century, the river that flows through Paris (the Seine) was so dirty that it was illegal to swim in it. But now, it has become so clean that swimming in it was recently legalized by the City of Paris.
In Germany, a sludge-filled river became a thriving ecosystem: “For more than a century, Germany’s Emscher river carried sewage and industrial sludge through the Ruhr, earning a reputation as an open sewer. Now, after a massive cleanup, the river is becoming a thriving ecosystem once again.”
