With fishing season in full swing, depending on where it was caught, you may want to think a bit before frying up that catch. The Department of Environmental Quality map below indicates areas in the lower Bay, and in and around Virginia Beach and Norfolk that do not meet standards for fishing. The majority of the locations marked in red are for low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, which restricts growth of aquatic animals. The map also indicates levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are stored in the fat of fish and can be passed on to humans.
This DEQ map shows highlights areas where water quality to support fishing does not meet environmental standards (in red).
For more information, view the entire Virginia Department of Environmental Quality map here.
This article is VERY misleading. Low dissolved oxygen in the water in no way causes the fish to be unsafe to eat. PCBs do. Lumping the 2 into one delineation is ridiculous. They have much different causes and different affects.
By the way, I have a Masters degree in Fisheries biology from VIMS.
Note: We are just explaining what the red areas of the DEQ map indicate.
The Virginia Dept of Health has issued a fish consumption advisory for the entire trunk of the Bay, for “rockfish”.
http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/12/2016/01/ChesapeakeBay.pdf
Good information Janet. PCBs are a valid health concern.
BTW, I apologize to English majors and such for substituting “affects”, for the correct “effects”. I know better, but made a typo in my haste to compose a reply.