striper, halibut consumption, oehha

So all the Mendo pics have made me wonder if folks are consuming the stripers themselves, giving them away, etc., in light of this notice:

http://www.oehha.ca.gov/fish/so_cal/pdf_zip/DSnoMenfacts081706.pdf

I would guess the standards for LMB would be applicable to stripers?

The SF Bay guidelines really dampened my enthusiasm for halibut pursuit since I catch them to eat. I was raised to eat the whole fish; filleting to me has always seemed wasteful. But that's what I did with the one I caught recently; I had one small meal, and gave the rest away (to folks that are  beyond their childbearing years, and don't care about the guidelines).



Mike

Sean White "scwafish" works with Sonoma County Water District has tested the stripers in Lake Mendo and says that are super clean. Those are stocked stripers so they are not coming in from the delta or the bay.

I know the Mendo stripers are stocked young(as 1-2yr fish pen raised in San Luis, I vaguely remember), so the Bay/Delta isn't a source, it's whatever they pickup in the 2-3 years of growth/eating after stocking. I would have thought that fish species with similar food chain levels and lifespans (LMB & stripers, I'm guessing) would have similar bioaccumulations from the same waters.

 I could believe that a diet of shad might be better than minnows/frogs/snakes/ducklings . Did Sean's test include LMB, and if so did those numbers agree with the oehha?

Sean would have to give you the details.

There are no longer pens at San Luis, I am pretty sure of that, but I have no idea where they are coming from.

Halibut are probably among the cleanest fish in the bay that aren't considered 'bait' since they spend most of their lives in the open ocean.  They also aren't fatty, like stripers and sharks, so should accumulate less toxins.

I fillet and skin everything I eat because I feel that stuff that isn't going to be eaten should never make it to the plate in the first place, when possible.  That's just my personal ethic as a chef.

Delta stripers are pretty high for mercury and selenium.   I personally wouldn't eat anything out of SF Bay.  Halibut for the most part are from the ocean but some do spend a significant amount of time in SF Bay.  I would eat them, but limit consumption to 8oz a week.

Jim

P.S. stripers also have alot of parasites, nasty human health problems kind.