Here's a story from Montana. I'm wondering about the people who've eaten these fish for the last 25 years?


State agency to kill 478,000 tainted fish
Associated Press

HELENA - The state fish and wildlife agency intends to kill 478,000 fish - nearly one-fourth of the total at its Lewistown hatchery - because they are contaminated with the suspected carcinogen PCB.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Friday the decision was made in the interest of public safety after a review of test results.

The contaminated trout at Montana's largest hatchery were raised to help stock Hauser, Holter and Canyon Ferry lakes along the Missouri River near Helena. The fish probably will be put in a Great Falls landfill, state fisheries chief Chris Hunter said.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced the contamination last week but awaited results from additional tests before deciding whether to stock the fish in Montana waters or kill them. There will be further tests to measure any PCB contamination in fish from other parts of Lewistown's Big Springs Trout Hatchery, Hunter said.

Officials say the contamination apparently came from PCB-laden paint used on hatchery raceways, or channels, more than 25 years ago. PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, were put to a variety of industrial uses before studies suggested that they may cause cancer in humans.

The fish to be killed are contaminated at levels ranging from .029 to 1.69 parts per million, Hunter said. Health guidelines indicate people can safely eat one fish meal a week at PCB levels to .10 ppm, and one a month at levels between .11 and .47. Beyond that level, people are advised to avoid eating the fish.

Those to be killed are from Big Springs' shorter raceways. Some longer raceways were covered with paint containing lower PCB concentrations, and tests indicate the levels in those fish range from a trace to .10, Hunter said.

There will be more tests on those fish before officials decide what to do with them, he said.

Samples taken from fish raised in the hatchery's upper 42 raceways showed no PCBs. Further testing of those fish is under way, as well.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks said it is possible some fish from other hatcheries will be sent to the Helena-area lakes, but there is no way to offset the loss of nearly half a million fish.

Many of the fish to be killed would have been too small to catch in 2004, but the contaminated group includes 30,000 that measure 8 inches and could have been caught this year, said Don Skaar, pollution control officer for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

At Canyon Ferry's Yacht Basin Marina, owner Kathy Frazier had a reserved reaction to Friday's news.

"I don't think we should be panicking," said Frazier, who sells fuel, bait and other supplies to anglers. "It's not going to have a dramatic effect right this second. Be patient, hear the entire plan from Fish, Wildlife and Parks and let them present their ideas on how it's going to affect the rainbow (trout) population in Canyon Ferry."

Big Springs fish are planted in about 100 Montana waters.

The 82-year-old hatchery raises rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout, grayling and kokanee salmon.

By weight the hatchery produces about half of the fish for Montana's coldwater stocking program. Eight other hatcheries produce the remaining half.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks plans a public meeting in Lewistown on Monday to answer questions about the contamination, the hatchery and fishing in Big Spring Creek. Tests on creek fish below the hatchery revealed PCBs at about 46 times the do-not-eat level, and officials say it appears the hatchery paint is a major source of that contamination, as well. Last year they issued a warning against eating the fish.

State officials are awaiting federal approval a cleanup plan for the hatchery.