State Fish Advisories Updated

By Allison M. Heinrichs

State agencies lessened fish consumption advisories on the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and added an advisory to Chartiers creek, according to an announcement today by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

The advisories are to help people avoid over-eating fish caught in Pennsylvania waters that could be tainted by pollutants harmful to people in concentrated amounts. People should not eat any sport fish caught in Pennsylvania more than once a week.

The following advisories were changed:

Consumption of smallmouth bass caught in Chartiers Creek from the PA Route 980 Bridge in Canonsburg to the mouth in Washington and Allegheny Counties, and in Little Chartiers Creek from Canonsburg Lake Dam to the mouth in Washington County, should be limited to six meals per year, due to polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, contamination.

Consumption of walleye caught in the Allegheny River between the confluence of Sandy Creek and the confluence of Witherup Run at St. George should be limited to to two meals per month, an improvement from one meal per month. The advisory is due to mercury and PCB contamination.

Consumption of channel catfish caught in the Monongahela River between Lock and Dam 2 and the Point in Pittsburgh should be limited to one meal per month, an improvement from a do-not-eat advisory. The advisory is due to PCB contamination.

PCBs are a group of chemicals used before the 1970s that linger in the environment and collect in fatty tissues. Mercury comes from industrial air pollution, such as from coal-fired power plants, and is washed into streams and rivers in rain.

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