Do or don't?

[joel.pringle]

Howdy all

I was wondering if anyone here eats fish caught west of the Harbour Bridge?

I've seen the signs warning of dioxins and other toxins, but the bridge seems an arbitrary line. I'm guessing that the water would flush well around the Balmain / Birchgrove area? I see quite a few fishos around, and lots of reports here of fishing from the north side of the harbour. Does anyone hazard a feed without any obvious signs of ill-health? Or any (gulp) bad reports?

Hrgh

[AndrewNR]

Mate, it's not the water it's the soil. Home bush is full of dioxin and the bridge is the line they think the local fish from the area don't stray past as much. There is also Still a limit east of bridge. Stick with the guidelines. I fish there heaps and only eat pelagics. You may be ok but there is a warning for a reason and putting them back makes them grow bigger for me to catch. My 2 bobs worth. I'm sure some other fisho will bag the good old harbour in this thread soon enough.

Thanks Andrew.

[brettmann86]

Heard it from a water pollution expert don't eat resident fish like bream, fish that move around are all good but consider how long they've been in the area, essentially don't eat flathead or bream that's the bottom line

[joel.pringle]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds I best follow the recommendations.

[apple]

Also my understanding is that the effects of eating dioxins is not immediate in that you definitely won't feel sick from eating the fish. You will however silently build up dioxins in your system which apparently helps you die of cancer later. My feeling is that if you live in a big city your system is getting loaded with all kinds of nasty stuff that will lead to the same outcome. But, it doesn't make sense to add more into yourself than is already going in. So my advice is catch and release and I agree with the other posts, pick your species. I think realistically we are dealing with trace amounts so not worh stressing too much but I guess the government has a responsibility to issue warnings when they get bad information from research.

Anyway that's my opinion only.

Cheers- Mark