Tomales shark fishing

FYI-

I have noticed a lot of folks harvesting sharks from Tomales lately, so I thought I might bring to your attention that the sharks and other resident fish in Tomales are LOADED with mecury due to an abandon mine in Walker Creek.  Enjoy fishing for them, but I wouldn't eat one on a dare.

Its a quandry. There is so much abundant healthy life in Tomales.Are we the only ones affected? Remember when they used to have the Tomales Bay Shark and Stingray derbies.They were almost wiped out.

I dug deep enough into the data once to find the actual mercury content in the flesh, I don't remember what the values were, but I do remember deciding to never eat one again.

BTW mercury is naturally occuring in those hills in Marin county, also on the do not eat list should be any fish caught in the western Marin County reservoirs. I remember those values being more than 3 times the acceptable limit (if there is one).

There are several mercury mines from the gold rush days that mined cinnabar ore for making methylmercury.  They mostly are along the coast, and drain into the estuarries along the coast.  Mercury content is high in a lot of those areas, and the older the fish, the higher the content as mercury is soluable in the tissue and does not disipate.  I would feel comfortable eating a 36-42" shark once in a while, but larger than that, I am hesitant.  Not just from Tomales, but from most bay waters.  Working in mines and regulating them most of my life, I have been exposed to a lot of heavy metal poisons, and get tested annually, and do not want to expose myself to higher concentrations if not necessary.  I agree with Sean on eating fish from there, if they are large.  Smaller species in extreme moderation.

The mine in Walker Cr. is far worse than the norm...just wanted to let you guys know before you went nuts from eating leopard sharks.

Lake Nacimiento is the same, quicksilver mines at the bottom of the lake, don't eat fish out of there......

Used to catch salmon in Walker Creek by the bridge thats still standing. There was a run in that creek once. 1972

What kind of Salmon?  Any idea on why that run collapsed? 

Silvers in Walker creek and in Papermill creek. There used to be a hatchery below the dam at Lake Nicasio in the 60's. You also used to be able to catch salmon just east of Inverness. The Giacominis had some property where there a pump house out on the flats and a nice hole there. Anglers would be lined up elbow to elbow 1973 first time I fished there. Large spinning lures. There still is a run that goes up papermill to the outlet of Kent Lake. Threre are probably fish in there now hopefully. Also just below the steel bridge on Hiway 1 by Pt reyes Station you could fish there. There was an earthen dam that would wash out when it started raining. Until then the fish would hold right below the bridge waiting.

Mercury ??? What about the thousands of Oysters eaten every month from Tomales Bay ??

The mine at the Gambonini ranch is one of the cuases of the silt contaminant that runs off into slamon creek. There are also abandoned mines that are underwater at Soulajoule Res.  I dont know if alot of the slit makes it all the way out into the bay or not. I will try to find the PDF file that shows the mines location and settlement areas for the comtaminated slit. Oyssters grow pretty fast so I would assume they dont become laden with mercury.

Check this out

Heres another one. Make sure to check out who the memo is sent to. WOW!

I'm in Humboldt and I've heard warnings about eating too much of our shark to. Pollution is everywhere

Hey guys, I caught a leopard shark there last Sunday, fillet it and cooked some for dinner and it taste good!!!!  

How about all this species?  sturgeon, tunas, swordfish, halibut do they have mercury?  


Kiel