Some fish in Newport Bay contaminated

Alicia Robinson

A recent study found some fish in Newport Bay contained high levels

of contaminants that could be harmful to humans, but no official

health advisory has been issued against eating most of those fish.

The Orange County Health Care Agency on Thursday announced that

preliminary results of the study found levels of polychlorinated

biphenyls, commonly known as PCB, and

dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, exceeded

state recommendations in five fish species collected in Newport Bay

between 2000 and 2002.

The bay is a popular fishing spot, but officials said they’re not

sure how many people are eating what they catch there.

PCB, which has been used in electrical equipment, could cause

problems in infant development. DDT is a pesticide that was banned

because of links to cancer. The healthcare agency commissioned the

study, which was performed by the Southern California Coastal Water

Research Project and is still being completed.

“We made the decision that we felt it was prudent to let the

public know these levels in these fish in Newport Bay as soon as

possible,” said Larry Honeybourne, spokesman for the Orange County

Health Care Agency.

No official advisory has been issued against eating four of the

five species of contaminated fish, which included jacksmelt,

yellowfin croaker, spotted sand bass and California halibut. An

advisory already was in place for the fifth species, the California

corbina, when caught near the Newport Pier, said Allan Hirsch,

spokesman for the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard

Assessment, which issues fish health advisories.

That office will incorporate the information from the study in an

overall evaluation and update of fish advisories for Los Angeles and

Orange counties that is expected by the end of the year, Hirsch said.

For now, people may want to follow the existing advisory for the

corbina, which recommends eating no more than one meal, or six ounces

for a 150-pound adult, per week, he said.

“The levels of those chemicals [in the other four species] were

low enough that we don’t really feel that right now we can rush out

with advice,” Hirsch said. “We don’t see anything that is overly

alarming or that we feel would constitute a public health emergency.”

The Orange County Public Health Agency said the fish contained

levels of PCB up to 57.8 parts per billion, while the Office of

Environmental Health Hazard Assessment considers a level beyond 20

parts per billion a possible health risk. DDT levels went as high as

490 parts per billion, compared with the hazard assessment office

considers levels higher than 100 parts per billion a potential risk.

Officials didn’t seem surprised by the news, and they said both

DDT and PCB are compounds that stay in the environment for years once

they are released.

The study was requested as part of an ongoing investigation of

toxic compounds in Newport Bay, said Kurt Berchtold, spokesman for

the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. The board

commissioned the study from the Southern California Coastal Water

Research Project to help address that contamination.

The data doesn’t indicate where and how the fish are being exposed

to the contaminants or how the contaminants got into the bay, he

said.

“We’ll be continuing our investigation to identify the source of

these compounds and eliminate them,” Berchtold said.

The public piers near Newport Bay are popular places for fishing,

and some people are eating the fish, said Norris Tapp, manager of

Davey’s Locker Sportfishing, which has rented boats to people to fish

in Newport Harbor for 30 years.

“It kind of comes as a shock to us because we’ve never had any

incident or any occurrence of anybody eating the fish here and having

any problems,” he said.

Newport Beach city officials already were looking at contamination

found in sediment as part of Newport Bay dredging projects, Harbor

Resources Manager Tom Rossmiller said.

“I think to the scientists working in the bay it wasn’t a

surprise,” he said.

“We’re looking into it and we will ask the [Harbor] Commission to

help us decide what future steps to take.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].