Can you eat fish from the Hudson?

by niki@hvny.info

Short answer: it depends how old you are, what kind of fish it is and where you caught the fish.

There’s a chemical of concern in fish from the Hudson River called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that could cause health issues and birth effects especially in women of childbearing age, according to the New York State Department of Health. “Women under 50 and children under 15 should not eat fish or crabs from the Corinth Dam to the New York City Battery” – which is essentially the entire stretch of the Hudson River.

PCBs have been used as a fire preventive and insulator in electrical devices, and were discharged from two General Electric capacitor manufacturing plants in the upper Hudson River watershed north of Catskill before the chemical was banned in the late 1970s. Because of the pollution, that area is designated as catch and release only by the DEC, and “in general, fish from the lower Hudson are less contaminated.”

And not all fish are contaminated equally: Smaller fish generally contain less chemicals than larger, older fish.

From the Rip Van Winkle Bridge to the Tappan Zee, men over 15 and women over 50 can eat Striped bass, Bluefish, Brown bullhead, Carp, Largemouth and Smallmouth bass, White perch, Rainbow smelt, Atlantic needlefish and Goldfish – but only once a month.

...but can you swim in the Hudson River?

Today, swimming in parts of the Hudson River is “generally safe,” according to the advocacy group Riverkeeper, but it depends where. Click here for more info

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