Alert: NJ Bass Contaminated with Estrogen

[Eskimo]

.

Women use birth control. They pee. Their pee is eventually flushed into waterways we fish in through sewage treatment plants. The estrogen is being taken up the food chain and creating "intersex" male bass that adopt some female characteristics.

Two locations in New Jersey were tested. One was the the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge which is the headwaters to the Passaic River. I couldn't imagine the problem getting any better as one moves downstream and the river collects more sewage discharge water.

The other location is the Wallkill River in Sussex County which I'm not familiar with.

Agricultural run-off also creates estrogen-like chemicals in the water. The article stated that both Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass were found in both locations had this condition, but there are no Smallmouth Bass that far up the Passaic River.

So if the horrific methyl mercury contamination in bass that makes kids who eat the fish uncoordinated, slow-learners hasn't discouraged people from eating bass, maybe the estrogen that will turn the angler into a fruity hermaphrodite like Bruce Jenner will. People should practice catch-and-release not only because it conserves a shared resource, but because the fish are toxic.

Here is the article in NJ.com:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...art_river_home




.

[acabtp]

it's not just estrogen compounds, they have been able to detect antidepressants, antibiotics and all sorts of other drugs coming out of water treatment plants too. only way to fix this is for the water treatment facilities to be upgraded to take the stuff out of the treated water using reverse osmosis or other real energy intensive methods which are currently too expensive for utility scale use.

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/f...drinking-water

[NJSquatch]

UM WOW! Very bad things

It found intersex in smallmouth bass in all 19 locations at between 60 percent and 100 percent of those fish captured, while the condition's prevalence in largemouth bass ranged from zero to 100 percent of the fish of that species. Overall, 85percent of the male smallmouth bass and 27 percent of the largemouth bass were found with the condition.

[shrimpman steve]

We are headed towards an ecological disaster!

[NJSquatch]

Originally Posted by acabtp

it's not just estrogen compounds, they have been able to detect antidepressants, antibiotics and all sorts of other drugs coming out of water treatment plants too. only way to fix this is for the water treatment facilities to be upgraded to take the stuff out of the treated water using reverse osmosis or other real energy intensive methods which are currently too expensive for utility scale use.

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/f...drinking-water

The real concern is how effective the downstream potable drinking water treatment plants that use the river as their water source can treat these chemicals. Have to assume that these chemicals are also found in ground water sources from septic system infiltration.

[Chrisper4694]

Who the hell eats fish out of the Passaic river?

People who want super hero powers! Njf super friends unite!

[tautog]

Exact same percentages as college kids these days...

[Dave B.]

Sadly this is an issue that has been around for a long time now. I first heard of this concern in the late '80s. It wasn't at all widely publicized then, nor was it in the 90s. Finally in the early 21st century, around 2005-06 the matter began to get some national attention. Since then there have been dozens of studies done, both by completely un-biased organizations/entities and by some who might have some stake in the game such as the 'Association for Reproductive Health'. As you might imagine this latter group and others with something to possibly lose produced studies that "clearly show that human birth control medications have little to no impact on the estrogen in the environment." Go figure.
Still it seems the greatest percentage of these compounds in our waterways comes from agriculture, mainly cattle and dairy farming operations, but the human factor is still high enough IMHO to warrant being scrutinized and addressed.

[bunker dunker]

so what are you saying?? that our bass here in nj play for the other team??

[Jigman13]

Rainbow bass now a sport fish outside of Central America!