Fishing

Do not eat any fish from the Richmond Harbor Channel because high levels of mercury, PCBs, pesticides, DDT, dieldrin, and other chemicals have been found in the sediments on which the fish feed.

Catching and Eating Fish from Other Parts of San Francisco Bay
Mercury, PCBs, and other chemicals of concern have been found in fish from the San Francisco Bay. The amounts of chemicals found in fish in the San Francisco Bay are not known to cause immediate sickness. However, chemicals can collect in the body over time and may eventually affect your health or the health of your children. Adverse health effects that may occur from continued exposure to high levels of toxic chemicals in the fish include cancer, slower growth or brain damage in children, and kidney damage.

Tips to Protect Your Health

• Adults should eat no more than two meals per month of San Francisco Bay sport fish. (One adult meal is about eight ounces. The recommended amount of fish eaten is adjusted according to body weight, with roughly 1 ounce of fish per 20 pounds body weight.)
• Adults should not eat any striped bass over 35 inches.
• Women who are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding and children under the age of 6 should not eat more than one meal of fish per month. In addition, they should not eat any striped bass over 27 inches or any shark over 24 inches.
• This advisory does not apply to salmon, anchovies, herring, and smelt caught in the bay, other sport fish caught in the delta or ocean, or commercial fish.

• Fish in a variety of locations rather than in one location
• Eat smaller fish
• Eat different types of fish

Cooking and Preparing Fish

• Before cooking, remove and do not eat the organs, head, skin, and dark fatty tissue along the lateral line, backbone, and belly.
• Trim away the fat and eat only the fillet portions.
• Cook fish so that the fat drips off. Do not reuse the liquid in soups or sauces.

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