Hi guys,
As we all know there are varying levels of opinion regarding just how safe it is to eat fish from both West Lakes and The Port River. I've recently been trying to find some hard facts, that is scientific evidence regarding whether or not the fish in both systems are perfectly safe to eat. I've had some success but was wondering if anyone else out there has come across some good scientific research reports?

After some Googling I came up with the attached report "West Lakes.pdf" and it was quite an interesting read. I had no idea what the history of the area was and it explains where all of the heavy metals that I've heard people talk about come from. On outcome 4 from page 4 they do state that the public waterways and the beaches on Delfin Island are not affected by the contamination, but unfortunately they don't go as far as to test the fish. Has anyone seen any fish test results?


I also came across another EPA study about the Port River Dolphins and in that particular study they actually did also test a number of fish out of The Port River. On page 22 of the report it lists the levels of heavy metals in the Bream and Mullet that were tested and they appear to be well under the maximum levels set out in the food standards code. I guess they are safe to eat then? Although it would have been nice to see what size the fish were to give an indication of the age of the fish.


Anyway, have a read of the reports if you are interested and I'd love to see any other reports that you guys have found.

cheers
Glen

Yeah i've read the W/Ls one before.The reason there are some parks on the waterfront is that it was too polluted to put a house there and the council are considering changing from lawns to native plant because of the leeching of cadmium(i think) etc into the lake.
I don't eat fish from either place except the odd feed of S/Ts which i believe to be a more transient species.Even then i'm probably kidding myself
cheers brenton

I think you're probably right about the ST Brenton. I came across some surprising info that the Tassie government has issued regarding heavy metals in fish in the Derwent River. They are currently telling people that the Bream are not safe to eat, but looking at Australian Salmon their heavy metal concentrations are much lower. The levels recorded in the Bream are much much higher than the few Bream tested in the Port River report I posted.

Derwent_Seafood_Safety_2602.pdf

Hmmm...if we had a problem here in SA wouldn't the government issue something similar...surely???

This is really bugging me at the moment. Surely more testing has been done since almost 12 years ago? It's not like Bream are the most outstanding table fish, but if I did chose to eat a couple I'd like to be able to make a decision based on facts rather than hearsay.

cheers
Glen

I'm not dead yet so there safe.

smokeykebab wrote:


But you glow in the dark

Sambo

glowing in the dark does have its benefits. but like GlenW posted about Tassie and the Derwent surely if west lakes and the ports fish were unsafe to eat it would be public knowledge and not hearsay. I know taking off shellfish are prohibited from the lake but why not the port?

mate of mine at the epa said to me a while last year that the levels are fine in the fish from westlakes. Dont have the research though to pass on so only taking his word for it.

personally,wouldn't eat fish from either WL or the Port ........no "evidence" to support this, just me I guess.

Thanks for passing that on mrfish. I actually sent the EPA an email last night so it'll be interesting to see if they have any documented test results that are publicly available.

Well after an email to the EPA I received a reply from the Principal Scientific Officer (Aquatic Biology). I was informed that any concerns about human safety in terms of the consumption of fish or other aquatic life would be issued by the Department of Health not the EPA, although monitoring and assessment programs can provide data that focus on an environmental issue that can also overlap with human health concerns as well, similar to the Port River Dolphin report that I cited. So...I then sent an email off to the Department of Health and this is the response I received back today from the Senior Scientific Officer (Water Quality):



Although I didn't actually get any references to more reports, I was very pleased to receive a personal email from senior scientists at both the EPA and SA Health. So make of it what you will, but hopefully my little bit of research will help some of you make up your own mind.

cheers
Glen

had a council bloke tell whilst fishing not to eat any shell fish in the lake do to being unsafe, so i guess bream and mulloway eat the shell fish which would make them also not safe.

even if the fish are safe to eat the only things I'll eat are Mulloway and Snapper easier to clean a big fish then lots of small fish. for me all bream go back (photographed if big above 45cm) mullet, st, kgw, gar, yfw, snook, tommys, pillies, squid, cuttlefish become live bait to catch Mulloway and Snapper

so long as you don't eat the guts of the bream and mulloway you should be fine. the bioaccumulation of heavy metals and pesticides etc occurs mainly in the gills, kidneys and livers of fish and not nearly as much in the flesh. i did read one paper where the results showed a greater accumulation of chromium in the flesh.

still... wouldn't catch me eating fish from the lake or port

smokeykebab wrote:


your a brave man smokey

tom1234 wrote:


isn't there a ban on taking shellfish from the Port?