Maybe a silver lining of having the June sucker program (that so many BFT members dislike) will be that federal funds can more easily be drawn in for potential clean-up. A combination of ESA money, EPA “superfund” funding and other avenues may just have deep enough pockets to do it. The undertaking though would be enormous. My wife ,the environmental engineer specializing in hazardous material remediation (clean-up), called it “job security” for those working on it.
What about fedral funding from the “save the june sucker”.also wait for drought periods i guesss to help with the cost..It might take years to complete ,I guess it would happen if they want to solve the problem.
**For those unfamiliar with PCB, here is a LINK TO A WEBSITE answers a lot of questions. **
It ain’t good, but it ain’t a guaranteed sudden death killer either. In fact, school is still out on a lot of the potential hazards.
One interesting statistic I found, on another website, is that most of us regularly get more PCB from beef, on an annual basis, than we would ever get by eating a few meals a year of PCB laced fish. It is not that beef has high PCB levels but that we eat so much beef in a year’s time.
Well, this certainly does suck, but it just confirms what all of us were pretty sure of, (just didn’t want to admit) but since there was no official data on this we all just ignored that “what if” thought that was in the back of our minds and just fished it anyway.
I don’t think the PCB levels will be higher in the gamefish than it is in the carpinski’s that hover around and wallow around in that mud all day long, so I’m going to apply that “8 ounces per month” rule of carp towards the other gamefish until this study is complete. However, my nursing wife won’t be partaking of an kittie krispy meals anytime soon. I’m very interested to hear the results of the study of the levels in the gamefish, however. In the meantime, “here kitty kitty kitty!!” They’ll still be fun to catch, just might have to release more of them going forward and occassionally take one home for dinner.
If I remember correctly high levels of PCB is what caused the closure of the 21 street pond west of Ogden. It would really be a loss if they banned fishing at utah lake. I hope it doesn’t happen. gshorthair
I just wanna spank somebody! (in the non-brokeback kind of way)
This just confirms what I’ve believed for years and years. Never, never eat anything caught out of Utah Lake.
Once a great body of water full of native cutts, UL will never be the same. Geneva, treatment plant, sewage, dead cows…whatever excuse you want to use for the rising PCB levels- DO NOT EAT OUT OF THAT LAKE.
Just my .02 cents.
Peace.
Yes and 21st street pond is still closed. They better check the fish at willard every storm drain in Ogden goes into the ogden and out to willard. Also 21st pond the river flows in and out, what is in there could easily be everywhere downstream.
I agree TD “whos gona pay” ultimately you and I will be paying. I have a little experence with PCBs from my last job. There is NO cure what ales it. You clean it up and get rid of it. I don’t know if this has anything to do with Geneva. Unless they were in the power generating business it seems more likely that this mess belongs to UP&L.
My guess is that this is going to go on the Super Fund clean-up list. This is going to be ONE COSTLY clean-up. Lets see whats the Govs track record so far …
Yep were screwed! Now there is the possibility it has not crossed species in a serious way yet. Carp do not eat the same as the other game fish. Though they do share some of the same food sources. As far as testing is concerned maybe the carp thing had something to do with finding. If so we all should be thankful for that. But the DWR has had a mandate to test fish in our waters for years. That mandate includes testing for heavy metals and a host of other dangerous chemicals. I betting PCB is on that list of “test for these”.
Now is the time that us fishermen can make a difference. The old antage “the squeaky wheel gets the oil” will never be truer than now and on this subject. Feeling festy are ya? Wanna get a grass roots kick in tha backside going? Letters, phone calls, meeting with public officals and the media.
I was wondering why ya didn’t need a flash light lately. That erie irredence glow that floows you around. I bet it scared the heck out of your burgular. (Turning off lights and checking for signs).
Gives a whole new meaning to “getting lit”.
[pirate] Ugh really bad news. But the more I read about it and the advisorys the more I have to think, given the lakes history and all the pollution that has gone on since the valley has been industrialized, this has had to be a problem for long before now.
The way I feel I will definately limit my young son’s intake of the fish caught outta the lake, but for me and the rest of my family (3 generations back) any damage to our health is probably already done. So I wont be giving up on that tempermental puddle anytime soon.
**Good common-sense observation. There are plenty of folks that have consumed large numbers of all species of fish from Utah Lake over many years, without verifiable ill effects. Everybody is running around saying “The sky is falling”, without any real reason for doing so. **
**Yes, if the PCB levels in fish is high, it has been there for a long time. And, it is not going to go away either. **
**There are still studies being conducted on the effects of PCB in fish on humans. No real scary stuff yet. All of the standard “It may cause sterility in octogenarians and pregnant women.” kinda stuff. Worst threat I have seen was the potential for causing acne. Big whoop. To be fair, there have been cases of recorded liver damage, but only to those who were exposed to massive amounts during an industrial accident or during the course of their work with the stuff. **
I’m with you. Until I see the results of the levels of PCB in cats and walleyes, and definitive reports on the verifiable hazards of eating fish with PCB, I am not going to quit fishing Utah Lake. Nor am I going to avoid eating any of the fish. I will probably not be fishing it as much the next month or so, only because I have already planned a lot of trips to other waters. It ain’t the PCB that is spooking me. I still have smoked catfish and uncooked catfish fillets from Utah Lake in my freezer. It will be cheerfully consumed.
you know… if i die eatin a fish…i think i will be at peace with a smile on me mug
cyas
rc
Cool sentiment, but I think I would rather go out with a rod in my hand and a big fish on the other end of the line.
**I used to work on party boats in Southern Cal. Had a regular, an old guy, who missed several weeks. When he next came out, he admitted that he was not supposed to be out fishing. Still recovering from a heart attack. You guessed it. A few seconds after hooking up to a runaway yellowtail he got a smile on his face and collapsed. He was gone before he hit the deck. **
I was standing right beside him when it happened. I have said to myself many times, “That’s the way I wanna check out.”