Alert: NJ Bass Contaminated with Estrogen

[Eskimo]

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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




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