Nobody should eat big stripers from SF Bay

While searching for info on Pac ‘Buts, I found this Halibut Brochure on the DFG site.
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/californiahalibut.pdf

Interesting to hear that the organization charged with keeping people safe + healthy recommends NOBODY eat stripers over 35” from SF Bay. This probably isn’t news to most. But it seems like they usually advise that men over 18 consume no more than 1 serving/month etc etc. Whereas, it says right here that nobody should eat any stripers over 35”. And they also recommend that children under 17 (and women 18-45) avoid any stripers over 27”.

Maybe slot limits are a good idea..?


Q) Are fish in San Francisco Bay safe to eat?
A) The Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment (OEHHA) recommends that men over
17 and women over 45 consume no more than 2
servings/month of San Francisco Bay sport fish and
consume no striped bass over 35 in. OEHHA
recommends that women ages 18 to 45 and children
under 17 consume no more than 1 serving/month of
San Francisco Bay sport fish and no striped bass
over 27 in. These are interim advisories as a final
state advisory is being developed. Call (510) 622-
3170 or visit www.oehha.ca.gov for the most up-todate
recommendations.

I always wonder if these mercury limits are a bit overboard.  But then, when you think of big stripers and what has and does go on in the bay, they probably have to be bad.

These are interim advisories

I suspect that's a key phrase right there...  they don't know for sure and are protecting themselves is the way I'm reading it.

It sure puts a damper on the eating.

Judd, any commentary about the lack of proof of ANY mercury poisoning? 

I know I won't eat stuff out of Humboldt Bay, and I damn sure don't want anything out of SF Bay...

How about some fresh meat out of Shelter Cove?   

Judd, any commentary/babble about the lack of proof of ANY mercury poisoning?  EVER!   

I'm with Judd on this one. I haven't seen any proof, just circumstantial evidence and heresay, out of which one local physician has made herself a name.

Oh, I fully understand why the state feels obligated to issue these types of warnings: to protect their butts from legal action. But this one struck me as a rather drastic warning (above and beyond the normal warning). Nobody should eat any SF Bay stripers over 35 inches, ever. That's what this says.

So, I acknowledge:
-this warning may have been issued for self-serving reasons;
-the scientific evidence is merely circumstantial at this point; and
-people have eaten big stripers for decades without obvious signs of mercury poisoning.
But I still think it's a bad idea to eat big stripers from the bay.

I don't disagree, there's plenty of other potential nasties in big predators besides mercury.

Plus I am not even saying that it's not possible to get mercury poisoning from eating fish from SF Bay. I'm just saying the currently available evidence is very weak and overinflated.

i thought this advisory was always in place?

i normally dont keep stripers over 27" anyways

I dont think they would taste very well either

i thought this advisory was always in place?

i normally dont keep stripers over 27" anyways

I'm with him - if they're pushin' 30", throw 'em back & let 'em make babies.

As far as pollution goes, I love the bay, but it ain't clean.

The mercury concentrations very a lot for large stripers.  Those fish that have spent some time in the ocean typically have lower levels and it really depends what the fish has been eating.  There are very few large stripers left in the system and we need those big females to reproduce, so don't kill it unless you really need it, is my 2 cents.  Big stripers also have lots of parasites etc.  I wouldn't eat too much, but a little every once in a while is not going to cause long-term damage.  I know I am more likely to get too much mercury from all the cheap sushi in Davis. 

As a kid I grew up never keeping a striper over 27in and now that's still the rule and pollution was never brought to mind it was just what we did for better tasting fish and to do our part in protecting the resource.Back then the limit was 16in and three fish

The concern in the bay is more than just mercury. It is the pesticides and petrochemicals that go into the bay also. That said, I don't think you should eat any fish that size whether it's from the bay or from the big blue. DFG has got it backwards in the size limits when it comes to health issues. JMHO.

I fear judd's response when/ if he gets wind of this thread...